Rock Star Rising
by TK Grimm
Summary: [SasoSaku] When Akatsuki, a famous rock band, loses its keyboardist and backup vocals, bass guitarist Itachi Uchiha has the perfect idea for a replacement. Renowned artist and band manager Akasuna no Sasori can't help but agree.
1. The Band

_**TK**_: Heheh, so I've been throwing around ideas in my head for another story, and for some reason, this one kept coming back up. But the plot is so silly to me that I couldn't really write it as a full-fledged story. It sounded more like crack. Of course, now that I'm this far, it seems my attempt to write crack has turned out more serious and legit than I'd intended. **XD**

Also, and this is kind of important – this story was **originally** going to be a **one shot**, but it ended up being a lot longer than I intended. I'm at 17,000 words right now, and maybe only halfway finished… But anyway, because it was originally a one shot, **it is very fast-paced**. There's little to no filler content, and the story progresses very quickly. Just a warning. Don't look for character development and side-plot because _there pretty much isn't any._

This is a _re-post_ of my story, Rock Star Rising, which was taken down due to song lyric violations. I've removed the lyrics so it is now in accordance with the rules of the site. I have also posted chapter 2 immediately, because that is where it left off when it was deleted.

I also have an obligatory Friends quote in here for SpeedDemon315 **:)**

**Music**: Musical stories are exceedingly difficult to write given that you can't "write sound", so to speak. Each part of this story is divided into a section _titled_ with a song. If you want to look up the songs while you read, feel free! They match what's going on. Sort of. If you squint. Some don't.

As you can guess from the title, it's all rock and roll, but it varies from Beatles to AC/DC to Godsmack to Three Days Grace to _whatever else I want_. So there's a variety. Listen if you want, otherwise, the story doesn't _really_ need sound to complete it.

**Soundtrack for Part 1**

"**Strawberry Fields Forever" The Beatles  
"Sweet Child o' Mine" Guns n' Roses  
"Hate My Life" Theory of a Deadman  
"Gone Forever" Three Days Grace  
"Lola Montez" Volbeat  
"Amaranth" Nightwish**

The cover image belongs to _shion1994_ on DeviantART and is titled "sakura rock".

**[Summary: **When Akatsuki, a famous rock band, loses its keyboardist and backup vocals, bass guitarist Itachi Uchiha has the perfect idea for a replacement. Renowned artist and band manager Akasuna no Sasori can't help but agree.**]**

* * *

_**Rock Star Rising**_

_TK Grimm_

* * *

**Part 1: The Band**

* * *

"_If it's illegal to rock and roll, throw my ass in jail."_

—_Kurt Cobain_

* * *

**I: "Strawberry Fields Forever" The Beatles**

* * *

"And you didn't even ask her what _for_, yeah?"

Sasori raised his fingers to rub the sides of his forehead to ease his impending headache. Of all annoyance nuisances in his life, it appeared that Deidara was an unfortunate constant that he would never be rid of.

"Why should I if she's just going to tell us when we get there?" Sasori's tone was irritable, and it matched the sour expression on his face.

They were, of course, talking about Konan, who'd sent out a mass text message just moments ago telling everyone in the band that she had an announcement to make when they got back to the studio. As Sasori was the manager of Akatsuki, the hugely popular rock band, he was included in that list.

He and Deidara were walking down the aisles of a popular costume store. There were various colored accessories on either side of them. Scarves, hats, glasses, obnoxious jewelry—even fake piercings. It was fairly common in their business for these items to get ripped or broken or even lost, and they usually had to be replaced fairly often.

Deidara had decided that he didn't have anything better to do and went along with Sasori to the large store. It wasn't remotely how Sasori planned on spending his day, but if he didn't get to it, then no one would. He would forever be cursed with being one of the only responsible people involved with Akatsuki.

It had also been a monstrous pain in his neck to convince the financial manager, Kakuzu, to part with the funds for Akatsuki's wardrobe, so Sasori had little choice in the matter. He had to go or he wouldn't get another chance.

"Ooo, look at this one, Danna… yeah," said Deidara. The blonde beside him was waving frantically and pointing at a blue bandanna with white birds printed on the fabric. "That blue matches my eyes! Maybe I should start wearing a bandanna. Can that be my new thing?"

Sasori's reply was droll. "The mouths on your hands aren't enough?"

He was referring to the mouth tattoos Deidara got on both of his palms. They were smiling with their tongues sticking out, and whenever he finished a guitar solo, Deidara stuck out his tongue and held up his hands on stage. As much as Sasori thought it was _stupid as fuck_, the fans seemed to love it.

"Maybe I could wear it like a headband, yeah?" Deidara asked. He rolled the blue bandanna and tied it around his forehead. His long blonde hair still came down the side and covered one of his eyes. The rest was pulled back into a high ponytail.

Sasori didn't think the headband was an improvement in the slightest. "You still look like an idiot."

"Aw, come on, yeah!" said Deidara. "I think it looks artistic! Maybe I can tie it around my head and set off another explosion on stage—"

"Not on your life," Sasori interrupted. He cut that off before Deidara could even finish the sentence.

Deidara made a whining noise. "But it's _rock and roll_," he protested. "There's _s'posed_ to be explosions! The fans appreciate my art!"

"Those ridiculous pyrotechnics of yours are _not_ art, Deidara."

Whatever Deidara would have replied with was cut off when the two of them suddenly heard a voice in the next aisle over. They both froze their actions immediately and grew very still, listening.

It sounded like a _girl_, and she was _singing_. She was singing along to some _Beatles_ song that was playing through the costume store's speakers. While that would have normally been incredibly annoying, she was actually singing surprisingly _well_.

Sasori sidestepped Deidara and walked down to the end of the accessory aisle. Deidara hurried after him, and the two rounded the corner at the same time.

Sure enough, the singer was a girl who just _had_ to be an employee. She was dressed in one of the many costumes sold at the store and had a nametag that said _Hello, my name is Sakura_. Her outfit was an absurdly revealing red fairy costume that showed her midriff, some cleavage, and a _lot_ of leg. The most ridiculous part about her, though, was her bubblegum pink hair. The pink dye was apparently so well maintained that she didn't have any roots showing.

Sasori barely registered her appearance. What he heard was her _voice_. It was some bullshit song about _Strawberry Fields Forever_ or something—the knowledge Sasori had about _The Beatles_ could probably _fit_ into a strawberry, it was so tiny—but she sang in a different key from John Lennon, and it sounded _amazing_.

"Whoa, Sasori, ease up, yeah," said Deidara. "You look like a fucking dingo stalking a human baby."

Deidara's voice alerted Sakura to their presence, for she jumped, startled, and stared at them with wide, sea foam green eyes.

Sakura had _no idea_ that those two men were in the next aisle over. She had simply been minding her own business and hanging up costumes of wild varieties and sizes. And, since she thought she was alone, she decided to sing along to the radio playing through the store's speakers. It was harmless enough… until they heard her.

"Uh… can I help you guys find anything today?" she hesitantly asked.

One of them was a tall man with long blonde hair. He had a ridiculous blue headband tied around his forehead with a white bird pattern. The color brought out his blue eyes, but he still looked silly. He was wearing a pair of tight black _leather_ _pants_ of all things and a shirt made entirely of _fishnet_. Then again, weird clothes weren't too uncommon for her, working in a costume store, but still.

The other was a little shorter with a mess of unruly red hair and brownish-amber eyes. He was dressed in a pristine black suit, unlike his gothic-looking friend (or lover; you never know these days, and Sakura wasn't going to assume). What really threw Sakura was the look the redhead was giving her. To say she was creeped out was a bit of an understatement. The look wasn't quite _child molester_, but it was definitely some sort of odd combination of _she-looks-good-enough-to-eat_ and _avid-collector-finds-rare-must-have-item_.

"I believe I've already found it," he said. In a matter of seconds, he had a wallet in one hand and a business card in the other. "Akasuna no Sasori—Red Cloud Recordings. Do you have a manager?"

Sakura accepted the business card with a dumbfounded expression. It was black with red letters. The back had a picture of a red cloud with a white outline.

"You mean like, my store manager?" she asked.

The corner of Sasori's lips twitched upward in amusement. "Have you ever been scouted by a talent agent before?"

Her green eyes widened. "Um, no."

The blonde beside Sasori (or Akasuna or whatever his name actually was) laughed and put a hand on Sasori's shoulder, though the gesture was obviously unwelcome. "She's pretty cute, eh, Sasori? I don't think Akatsuki needs any new members, though."

Sasori brushed the blonde's hand off his shoulder and said, "Maybe I'll replace _you_."

"Akatsuki?" Sakura asked. She looked down at the business card again and saw the red cloud. "You mean… you're part of Akatsuki? Like, the rock band?"

A wry grin spread over both Sasori and Deidara's face at the same time.

"Hi," said the blonde, holding out his hand. "I'm Deidara."

Sakura saw the mouth tattoo on his palm and hesitantly reached out to shake his hand. "That's nice. Listen uh, it was really cool meeting you, but—"

"Hey, hold on, yeah!" said Deidara. "Aren't you interested in a possible job?"

"Um… if you're some kind of talent scout for Akatsuki or heavy metal or whatever, then I'm really flattered, but I'm not interested." She self-consciously fiddled with the fabric of her fairy skirt as she continued. "I'm in university right now, and this is just a job to pay rent. I don't have time to go into music."

Sasori looked unconvinced. "This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, Miss…?"

"Oh, uh, Haruno."

"…Miss Haruno," he continued with perfected ease. "I know talent when I see it. You could go far, and you won't need a college degree to do it."

Sakura looked at him with an embarrassed smile. "Yes, well, that's very generous, but I'm not really into music. I mean, I love music, but my true passion is healing. I'm studying to be a doctor. I can't be a doctor if I drop out of university to join a _rock band_, you know?"

Sasori raised an eyebrow. He instinctively slapped his hand over Deidara's mouth to muffle anything the blonde would have said, all the while looking at Sakura with what she dared to call curiosity. "That's a shame. Still… hold onto that card, and if you change your mind, give me a call. Any time of day."

"Uh, sure," said Sakura. She slipped the business card into the elastic band of her fairy skirt. "Thanks."

"It was a pleasure meeting you, Miss Haruno."

* * *

**II: "Sweet Child o' Mine" Guns n' Roses**

* * *

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU'RE LEAVING, YEAH?"

Konan reached up her hand and pressed it against the front of Deidara's face, forcibly pushing him back. Her brief moment of irritation was quickly replaced with an understanding fondness. "I'm sorry, Dei," she said. "But the test was positive. I can't be in a rock band if I'm going to have a baby."

They were in the usual warehouse they used for practice because it was a great place to remain anonymous. Akatsuki had become so famous in recent times that off-tour band practice required such measures. Of course, it had the appearance of a regular old warehouse, full of wooden crates and un-swept cobwebs. But it was no trouble for them to haul their equipment from their bus and use the well-concealed power strips and lighting.

Konan and Deidara were standing in the middle of the huge warehouse. Hidan was sitting at his drum set twirling his sticks between his long fingers with a visible vein popping in his forehead. Bass guitarist Itachi Uchiha stood nearby, calmly tuning his guitar but still listening to the conversation. Pein, the lead singers and backup guitar, was sitting on one of the sealed crates with a suspicious grin on his face.

The only two that were in the warehouse who weren't members of the band were Sasori and Kakuzu. Kakuzu was the financial manager, and as was to be expected, he stood to the side with a sour expression on his face, no doubt displeased by the potential financial crisis losing a band member could cause. Sasori leaned against a stack of three crates, his lips set in a thin line at the setback.

"A baby, yeah?" Deidara asked. His blue eyes were wide, and the idiot was _still_ wearing that stupid blue bandanna with the white bird print like a headband. He didn't know much about pregnancy tests, but he knew enough to get the gist of how they worked. "Are you sure you peed on that stick right?"

Konan shot Deidara a bemused stare. "How many ways are there to _do_ that?"

Deidara looked flabbergasted, but his sputtering wasn't much of an answer to Konan's rhetorical question.

"Fuck's sake," said Hidan. He raised a hand over his slicked black silver hair in a frustrated gesture. He wasn't wearing a shirt, but his legs were covered with a pair of dark track pants. "We've already written eight god damn songs for the new album. What're we supposed to do now?"

"We'll have to find another member," said Pein. He was the leader of the group, the glue that held everyone together.

Deidara nodded in agreement. "Yeah, I guess. Are you sure you're okay with that though?" He addressed that question to Konan.

She reached up a finger to twirl around a lock of her dark blue hair. Her amber-colored eyes had a gleam to them that matched her whimsical smile. "Yeah, I am. I mean, this band is my life, but Pein and I have been married for over a year now, you know? I'm kinda excited about this kid." There was no visible baby bump, of course, but she reached up and held her free hand to her stomach anyway, as if she could imagine it.

The grin on Pein's face widened. He was pretty excited, too.

Deidara slumped onto the floor and crossed his legs in a seated position. His electric guitar rested across his lap with the guitar strap hanging loosely over his neck. "That's crazy. You're having a _baby_… yeah."

Kakuzu spoke next, his voice considerably irritable. "I think you all are forgetting the potential scandal this could cause."

"What's your problem?" Deidara asked.

"Kakuzu has a point," said Sasori. His tone was clipped and businesslike as his hazel eyes drifted over each band member. "The band is popular. Fans become loyal to certain members. This will likely be very bad for us."

"Sales will go down," Kakuzu agreed.

"We'll just have to make sure the new girl is extraordinary," Pein said. "Exceptional keyboarding skills, and she'll have to be able to hit the notes that Konan can. We can hold an audition."

"That will cost time and resources that we don't have," said Kakuzu. "And the publicity alone for such an event could be catastrophic. The fans will lose faith in Akatsuki."

"Like we have a fuckin' choice," Hidan grumbled.

For the first time that day, Itachi spoke up. "We might not need to." He was level-headed and responsible—a good choice as a mediator for the band. "I know someone who would be suitable for the role."

Pein's eyebrows rose. "Friend of yours?"

A small smirk crossed Itachi's lips. "Yes. My younger brother's girlfriend."

"Oh no," said Hidan, wanting to shut that down immediately. "We're not hiring this girl just because Uchiha knows her. She could be a fucking floozy. How do we know she's any good? I say go with the audition."

Kakuzu glared at Hidan. "We are _not_ spending the money on an event like that if we can recruit someone for _free_."

"You're such a miser, Kakuzu," Hidan complained. "Blaspheming shithead."

"_Enough_," Pein said loudly.

Konan spoke in a rational voice. "Itachi wouldn't recommend someone if they weren't worth his time." She switched her amber eyes to Itachi. "When can we meet her?"

"I don't have her phone number," Itachi confessed. "But she'll be at the Uchiha party this Saturday."

Uchiha was a big name for an old family. They went with only the best of circles. Itachi was the eldest son of the head of the household, and while his participation in Akatsuki was a source of controversy with the posh and proper family, he still made appearances at gatherings. They were still his family, even if he was the black sheep of the lot.

This weekend, they were throwing a party at the main house.

"Fuck that," said Hidan. "I'm not going to that shit. Bunch of high and mighty assholes looking down at me. Like I need _that_."

"Yeah, I'm out," said Deidara. "I hate stuffy parties… yeah." He also hated anything and everything Uchiha, but he wasn't going to say that to Itachi's face. Especially since, not that he would ever admit it, Itachi was the one Uchiha who didn't _always_ get on his nerves.

It was their smug superiority that always managed to piss Deidara off.

"I planned on going with you anyway," said Pein. "Konan and I are Naruto's guests."

Pein and Naruto were distantly related, though it was anyone's guess how. Someone on the Uzumaki side. Despite the vast pool of differences between them, the two got along surprisingly well.

"I'll go," said Sasori. He wasn't planning on it, but it made sense. He was the band manager, so if there was going to be a new addition, he needed to meet her first. That, and his family was an old and powerful one, too, which warranted him an invitation (which he'd thrown in the trash, but that was neither here nor there).

"It's settled, then," said Konan. "We'll meet her Saturday."

* * *

**III: "Hate My Life" Theory of a Deadman**

* * *

The party at the Uchiha estate was everything Sasori knew it would be. Everyone was dressed formally with glasses of champagne and expensive wine. Some classical music played through various speakers, but it was on a very low volume and obviously only being played for background noise.

Sasori had the misfortune of encountering his grandmother, Chiyo, at the party. "Oh, my adorable grandson! Why aren't you married yet?"

It had taken a full half an hour just to lose the woman in the crowd, and Sasori made sure to stay in the background after that just in case she spotted him again. Even though Sasori was head of the household after his father's unfortunate death, Chiyo still got invited to these parties, and the senile old bag just _loved_ to make appearances to remind people she wasn't dead yet.

"You look like you're _trying_ to go unnoticed."

Sasori glanced to the side and saw Konan beside him with a glass of lemonade in her hand. Of course—pregnant women couldn't drink. Konan's blue hair was pinned up in an elaborate bun with a white origami flower. She was wearing a beautiful deep blue halter dress that showed off her curves.

He always got along with Konan, which was rare because Sasori usually didn't bother with women. They tended to overcomplicate things with their excess emotions and pointless actions. Konan was calm, level-headed, and mature with an elegance about her that Sasori found surprisingly artistic. Her sense of humor was about as dry as a martini, but Sasori found that amusing, too.

"My grandmother is here," Sasori said.

Understanding spread over Konan's face. "Ah." A moment passed before she said, "Itachi is bringing the girl over here. Pein's getting another drink."

"Are you all right?"

Konan nodded to him. "I wasn't planning a baby, but I am excited for it. I think Pein is, too."

"I meant with being replaced."

She raised an eyebrow and smiled rather coyly at him. "Why, Sasori, it almost sounds like you care."

Sasori scowled, and he busied himself by taking a generous drink from his champagne glass.

Konan bit her lip to keep from giggling at him. He would never admit to liking her or caring, she knew, but Konan was aware that there was a teeny, tiny soft spot in Sasori's cold, black heart. She liked to think it was big enough for her, Deidara (though Sasori would never, ever, in a million years ever, admit that), and one more person. If she could just get him to pick a girl and settle down…

Sasori's eyes caught a familiar flash of pink, and he switched his gaze from Konan to a girl who danced right past the two of them with a young man who was probably her boyfriend. Sasori recognized her right away. It was Sakura, the pink-haired girl from the costume store. This time, she wasn't in some ridiculous fairy costume. She was dressed in a silky red gown with long white gloves and delicate high heels. Her pink hair was pinned up and curled at the loose ends that framed her face.

It was such a rare occurrence that Sasori stared at anything that he didn't actually realize he was doing it until Konan mentioned it.

"She's cute, isn't she?" Konan asked, tilting her wine glass up to gesture to Sakura. "I like her hair."

Sasori was too clever to fall for Konan's scheme. He stopped staring and asked, "Who?"

A smirk crossed Konan's lips, and she gave Sasori a look that said she wasn't buying it. "The pink-haired girl you were just staring at for over a minute."

It was _not_ over a minute. It was more like… thirty seconds. Give or take.

Sasori didn't have to think of a response, though. Pein arrived and offered Konan another glass of lemonade to replace the one she'd just finished. He had a glass of his own; it looked like the same champagne Sasori was drinking.

It was a rare thing to see Pein in a suit. He raised the hand that wasn't holding his champagne glass to adjust the tie around his neck with a bored expression on his face. Pein's bright orange hair was done up in messy spikes, as usual. The myriad of piercings on his face were probably a bright, shining reason why everyone at the party was doing their best to avoid him.

Sasori found himself slightly envious of that luxury, but not enough to go fill his face full of metal ornaments.

"There's Itachi," said Pein.

Sasori followed his gaze and saw Itachi a mild distance away. He was politely cutting in on the dance between Sakura and her boyfriend. The resemblance between Itachi and the younger man was undeniable. Uchihas were pretty easy to spot, though, with their onyx eyes and unruly black hair.

When Itachi placed his hand on Sakura's arm, she laughed and made a show of saying, "Unhand me, villain!"

While they were too far away to hear any other details of the conversation, Itachi was displaying a rare smile, something that Sasori couldn't recall seeing on his face before that moment. And then, Itachi and Sakura linked arms and stepped away from the young man who just _had_ to be Itachi's younger brother. His fuming face was rather priceless, but Sakura looked happy.

Wait a minute… if Itachi was bringing _her_, didn't that mean…

"Sakura, I'd like you to meet some friends of mine," said Itachi. "This is Pein and Konan and—"

"Oh!" Sakura interrupted when she and Sasori's eyes met. "I remember you from the other day! You're—err—Sasori, right? The talent scout?"

Sasori frowned. "I'm not actually a—"

"You've already met?" Konan asked. The grin on her face was absolutely devious. Whatever she was thinking, Sasori wanted to shut it down _now_.

He didn't get the chance.

"That's right," Sakura said with a smile. "I think the other guy's name was Deidara? They came in my shop a few days ago."

Pein's gray eyes swept over Sakura quickly. He looked skeptical when he turned to Itachi. "She's the girl?"

Itachi nodded. "This is Sakura Haruno, my brother Sasuke's girlfriend. She is a very talented musician."

Confusion spread over Sakura's face. "Eh? What's this about, Itachi?"

Konan smiled at her. "We're in the band Akatsuki, and we're looking for a replacement member. Someone who knows her way around a keyboard and can sing. Itachi recommended you."

"Oh," said Sakura. She looked a little awkward. "Well, uh, I am, I guess, but I'm also a full time med student at U of K." The University of Konoha was local and had the best medical program in the country. "And I have to work part time at the costume store to help pay what my scholarship didn't. So, I'm sorry, but I don't really have the time for another job right now."

"That's very respectable, Sakura," Itachi began, "but this is a rare opportunity. Akatsuki is a very popular band, and—"

"And it would take up more time than I have to give," Sakura said, though she did look apologetic. "I'm so sorry, Itachi; you know I'd help you if I could. But I have my degree to think about."

Konan sighed, "Ah, well. I can't fault you for that. It was nice meeting you, Sakura."

Sakura smiled at her. "Yeah, you too." She glanced over her shoulder with a frown. "Listen, uh, I better go back to Sasuke. You know how he gets… Sorry, Itachi."

"That's all right," Itachi said. "I'll talk to you later, Sakura."

When Sakura was gone, Pein shot Itachi a bored look and said, "Well that was disappointing."

Itachi's dark eyes lingered to where Sakura was standing with Sasuke. The two appeared to be in a heated discussion, and Sakura was gesturing wildly toward Itachi and their friends. The animosity between Itachi and his brother was no secret, and it seemed Sakura was paying the price for taking time to speak with Itachi.

"I wouldn't say that," Itachi commented. "Tonight doesn't seem to be a good night. She will think about this, though. We should approach her again."

"Are you sure?" Konan asked. "We can always convince Kakuzu to hold an audition."

"We didn't have much time to give Haruno a very convincing argument," said Sasori. He was still watching Sakura argue with her boyfriend. "You could always tell her the money she'd be making as part of Akatsuki would cover her university tuition."

"That's a great idea, Sasori," Konan said with what could only be a mischievous smile. "But Itachi said tonight wasn't a good night, and he doesn't have her phone number. Say, you know where she works. Why don't you talk to her Monday?"

"Wait, what?"

* * *

**IV: "Gone Forever" Three Days Grace**

* * *

When Sasuke pulled Sakura into the corner of the ballroom separate from the rest of the party, Sakura knew that there was more to his temper tantrum than met the eye. Of course, he always hated his brother (for reasons Sakura could not fathom, as Itachi had always been nothing if not nice and polite to her), and therefore liked to put limits on whether or not Sakura could be around Itachi at any given time.

"I specifically told you to stay away from him," said Sasuke. He loosened the tie on his fancy suit with a frustrated tug. His eyes were dark with seething vengeance.

"Oh please," Sakura said with a soft sigh. "Itachi just wanted me to meet his friends."

"_Why_? He's not _your_ friend."

"I happen to like Itachi just fine, Sasuke," she told him. "I don't see what your problem with him is."

Sasuke glowered at her. "He is against _everything_ the Uchiha family stands for! He—" he broke off and looked away in his anger. When he switched his gaze back to her, he had regained his composure. "It's none of your business. But when I tell you to stay away from him, I expect you to do as I say."

Sakura narrowed her eyes. All previous amusement from before had faded. "I'm not your _possession_, Sasuke. You can't order me around like one of your lackeys."

She could think of much more _colorful_ names for Juugo, Karin, and Suigetsu, the three assholes that Sasuke had replaced Sakura and Naruto with, but she refrained out of a desire to remain civil.

"You're so _annoying_," Sasuke said irritably.

Sakura's hands clenched into fists. It was an old insult, one from their childhood, and it never sat well with her. Sasuke knew this, and Sakura knew he deliberately used it.

"You're drunk," she said.

"I am not," he snapped.

Sakura tried to take a calming breath. She didn't need to lose her temper and cause a scene, especially at Sasuke's family's party. "Are you _trying_ to push me away? You already shoved Naruto aside. Will you do the same to me? Are we so easily replaceable to you?"

Sasuke's glare was usually enough to silence Sakura on most days, but not today. Maybe the glass of rosé wine earlier had been a bit of liquid courage, or maybe she'd simply had enough, she couldn't say.

"What happened to the boy I fell in love with?" she asked. "Because you haven't been him for a long, long time."

"People change," Sasuke said. "It's about time you got with the program. Naruto is a useless idiot and even _he_ gets it now. What do you think that says about you?"

That was the last insult Sakura could take. She pulled back her hand and slapped Sasuke right across his face. The deafening _crack! _that followed resonated through the ballroom, somehow drawing the attention of most of the partygoers to their previously private corner. One of those guests was Naruto—she recognized his blonde head and bright blue eyes immediately. He was standing on the other side of the room with his mother and father, more illustrious guests the Uchihas had invited.

Tears formed in Sakura's eyes, but they didn't fall. She told herself that her eyes were watering from her frustration. When she spoke, her voice was low and hollow. "Well," she said, "I'm with the program now. And I won't chase after you this time."

Naruto made a bee-line in her direction, waving his fists and shouting some angry threats at Sasuke that Sakura was too distraught to hear. He turned to Sakura, took one look at her face, and the rage in Naruto's expression softened. He put his hand on her shoulder and said, "C'mon, Sakura; let's go home."

"Well that was quite a spectacle," Pein said. He raised his glass to his lips and took a drink.

Itachi watched his brother for a moment, but when Sasuke stormed off angrily, the older brother switched his gaze to Sasori. "And that is why tonight wasn't the best night to ask Sakura to join us."

Sasori's reply was a short, "I see."

Pein still couldn't seem to wrap his mind around it. Sasuke had just thrown _that_ away? "He _is_ into women, right? I mean, is he into anything?"

"Of course," Itachi replied smoothly. "As if my little brother could get away with having porn and not letting me see it."

The calm, collected way that Itachi spoke those words was so suave that Pein, Konan, and Sasori all somehow managed to choke a little bit on their drinks. If he didn't have such a straight face all the time, Sasori would swear that Itachi was fucking with them.

The slightest of smirks adorned Itachi's face. "Was it something I said?"

**暁 _Rock Star Rising _**暁****

"Aw, Sakura," Naruto began, "you know I hate seeing you upset."

"I'm not upset," Sakura said. She buckled her seatbelt. "I'm _Pissed. Off_."

"Sasuke-bastard-face doesn't know what he's missing," Naruto told her. He put his keys in the ignition of his car, but he didn't start it. Instead, he turned to face Sakura with one of his cheeky grins. "You can do way better than him. Like me, for example!"

Sakura finally cracked a smile. She playfully punched Naruto in the shoulder, and Naruto had to go to extreme lengths to pretend that it didn't actually hurt. "Don't joke, Naruto. You're like my brother."

He tried to laugh through his pain while he rubbed his shoulder. "Yeah, yeah. I know you've got that weird badboy complex."

"I do not!"

"Suuuuuure."

Naruto drove Sakura home with more playful banter. Sakura really appreciated it. He was her oldest friend (apart from Ino, but Ino hadn't been at the Uchiha party), and Naruto always knew what to say to cheer Sakura up. She was able to forget about what was probably the biggest breakup of her life, if only for a short time. He dropped her off and kissed her on the cheek, but then even Naruto drove away.

Sakura went through all the motions of a proper breakup. She made herself a bowl of vanilla ice cream and covered it in chocolate syrup and whipped cream. She ate it while she watched an episode of _Oprah_ and then turned on her stereo to the angriest breakup music she could find.

It was Three Days Grace's _Gone Forever_. Sakura used her hairbrush as a microphone and sang along. It was heavy and angry, and for that short moment in time, it consumed her and drove her past her grief. But it was still only a song.

That night, when Sakura laid down in her bed and the weight of being truly alone hit her heavily, she cried herself to sleep.

* * *

**V: "Lola Montez" Volbeat**

* * *

Needless to say, when Deidara heard what had happened at the Uchiha party, it was all he could talk about. He and Sasori were walking down Main Street in the direction of the costume store where Sakura worked, and the blonde was going on and on with enthusiastic gestures and a wide grin.

"I can just _picture_ it, yeah!" Deidara practically gushed. "I hope it left him with an ugly black eye! Punk-ass Uchiha!"

Sasori really had no idea how he got himself into these situations. It was probably from associating himself with a group like Akatsuki, but they were his source of income and his, though he hesitated to use the word, friends. Still, all the amount of money in the world could not have prepared him for walking into that costume shop the following Monday and seeing Sakura.

Wearing a naughty schoolgirl costume.

No, really. She was dressed, head to toe, in a school uniform complete with a short plaid skirt and knee-high socks. Her hair was pulled back into little pink pigtails.

They met each other's gazes, and their eyes widened into mirrored, open-mouthed looks of shock.

Awkward.

"Holy _shit_, yeah!" Deidara exclaimed. "Lola Montez in the _flesh_." He whipped out his cellular phone and started searching for something on YouTube.

Sakura raised her hands to cover her face. "I thought I already told you guys no!" Judging by her tone and the fact that her face was pink with blush, she was highly embarrassed.

Sasori attempted to cover his shock with a blank expression, something he was usually quite good at, but it was proving _extremely _difficult. He tried to formulate some quick response in his mind, but Sakura's outfit was giving him an _excellent_ view of her legs. It somehow robbed him of his ability to speak.

Instead, the very elegant response he came up with was, "I—err…"

Mortified, Sakura crossed her arms over her chest defensively and looked away. "It's just a costume! I like to dress up at work, okay? I thought it was cute."

Cute. That was a word. Right.

Sasori cleared his throat, hoping to get _away_ from the subject of Sakura's naughty costume. "Actually, Miss Haruno—"

"Just Sakura is fine," she said, which surprised him. When she saw his expression, she clarified. "You're Itachi's friends, aren't you? You can just call me Sakura."

"Sakura," he said experimentally, mostly just to appease her. "I believe you said you were a med school student, is that right? I want you to know that you would be free to pursue your degree even as a member of Akatsuki. I'm sure you have plenty of connections with the Uchiha family, so the money isn't an issue for you, however—"

"Whoa, stop right there," Sakura said. She lowered her hands, and her previous embarrassment was completely covered up by a sudden anger. "Uchiha connections? That has _nothing_ to do with my medical degree. Sasuke wasn't paying for any of it. Even if he offered, I would tell him no. That's the whole reason I'm _working_ this part time job is so I can pay the leftover tuition."

Sasori's surprise showed on his face. His impressions of Sakura seemed to vary by the day. The first day, he'd heard her sing and been impressed. Then, at the party, he saw her with Sasuke Uchiha and supposed she was just another girl trying to get in on the Uchiha name. Now, he was thrown for another surprise when she made it apparent she was actually a self-sustaining, independent woman.

Music suddenly began playing from Deidara's phone. He'd looked up a video that played Volbeat's _Lola Montez_ and turned his volume all the way up. He began jamming on an air guitar, seemingly oblivious to the atmosphere around him.

Sakura made an indignant huff and moved to walk past them. Sasori quickly reached out and took hold of her upper arm to stop her. "Wait… I apologize for offending you. If you really are paying for everything yourself, then that's… respectable. Commendable, even."

Sakura frowned, looking at him with a closed-off expression. "I already told you, I—"

"Listen," he said. "I realize your degree is important to you. That type of education doesn't come cheap, right? Can you honestly tell me this part time job is making enough to cover your expenses?"

The way she hesitated and averted her gaze to the side told him everything he needed to know.

Sasori loosened his grip on her arm so that it was more of a simple touch. "You'll get an advance on your pay if you join Akatsuki. This is a platinum-selling rock band, Sakura. You will make more than enough money with us to cover your tuition and _then some_."

Her eyebrows rose, and she looked to be considering it.

Sasori couldn't help but smirk. He had her.

"How much money are we talking about exactly?" said Sakura. "Because my tuition is like, 15,000 a year _after_ scholarships and grants."

"You will make more than that." Sasori watched her for a moment. He was struck with the memory of her singing along to the Beatles song the other day. "And… you'll get to do something you love."

"What makes you think I love music?"

"People don't look as happy as you did doing something they don't love."

"…You make a very convincing case."

Deidara was was grinning widely because he knew that they had her in the palm of their hands at last. "This is great… yeah!"

"Come to Warehouse 9 on 11th tonight after you get off work," Sasori told her, speaking loudly over Deidara's stupid rock song and his exclamation. "The band will be practicing there."

"A warehouse, huh?" said Sakura. "Cause that's not creepy at all."

"Hiding in plain sight," Sasori told her. His brown eyes were alight with amusement.

Deidara started singing along to the Volbeat song on his phone.

Sakura pointed at him with her thumb while looking at Sasori. "He's not the lead singer, is he?"

"Gods, no."

* * *

**VI: "Amaranth" Nightwish**

* * *

Sakura spent the rest of her shift at work debating Sasori's offer. She had to admit that it was tempting, but she never pictured herself in a _rock band_ of all things. Of course, he was right when he said it was a once in a lifetime offer. The world was full of middle-aged men who never got over their teenage dream of being rock stars.

And Akatsuki, well, they were one of the greatest in the world. She did some research on her phone during her fifteen minute break and listened to some of their music. She'd listened to them before, but not enough to consider herself a huge fan. Still, she had to admit they had a pretty great sound.

After work, she got a surprise call from her mother. "_Sakura_!" cried her mother's voice. "_Why did I have to hear from Kushina Namikaze that you slapped Sasuke at his party? What were you thinking_?"

Sakura groaned loudly as she walked down 11th Street in search of Warehouse No. 9. "I don't want to talk about it! At least not to you." The second part was muttered under her breath, but her mother had still heard it.

"_Sakura! I'm your mom. Who can you tell if not me_?"

"I don't know? Naruto," Sakura said, gesturing around her as she spouted names. "Dad. That _tree_ over there."

"_Darling, you need to apologize to Sasuke right away, or your relationship will be_—"

Sakura hung up. For extra measure, she put her phone on silent mode. Just ahead was Warehouse 9, and it looked every bit as abandoned as Sakura had expected it to be. She would have turned around and run away if she didn't see a band member standing outside smoking a cigarette. She recognized him as Hidan, the band's drummer. She was suddenly very grateful she'd looked the band up on her way here so she could recognize the members.

He was fairly tall with slicked back silver hair and vibrant magenta eyes. They certainly didn't look like contacts, but Sakura wasn't going to touch that conversation topic with a ten foot pole. The man was only wearing a pair of black, tight-fitted leather pants and some black shoes. He also had a long silver necklace with a circular symbol with a triangle inside—a rosary. His bare chest was more finely chiseled than Michelangelo's _David_.

Hidan looked at her, his gaze roaming over her body much like hers had just done to him, before he finally settled on her face. He lowered the cigarette from his lips and asked, "You the bitch whose pimphand is guided by Jashin himself?"

Sakura's curious stare turned incredulous. "_Excuse_ me?"

"I heard you bitch-slapped Sasuke Uchiha so hard he started _bleeding_." Despite his word choice, Hidan both sounded and looked impressed. "Fucking beautiful. Wish I'd seen it."

Sakura tried not to bristle at his words. "Yeah, well, he deserved it."

"'Course he did," said the drummer. "He's a fucking Uchiha." Hidan's magenta-colored eyes roamed over her again, and a smirk spread over his face. "You don't look like much, Pinky. But come inside; let's see what you've got."

While she wasn't too impressed with Hidan's choice of nicknames, Sakura's immediate thoughts became apprehensive. Hidan slid up the massive garage door entrance to the warehouse and held it up so that Sakura could duck underneath.

It looked like the band was still setting up. Sakura recognized the blue-haired woman, Konan, from the Uchiha party. She was sitting on a turned over wooden crate with her legs dangling off the edge. She had a playful smile on her face, and her blue hair was pinned up with an elaborate white flower which, on closer inspection, turned out to be made of paper.

Standing near Konan was Pein. His orange hair was a mess of spikes, but his most outstanding feature were all the piercings on his face (and probably elsewhere that she couldn't see). Two snakebites in his lower lip, three studs on each side of his nose, and a bunch of others in his ear. He was running a microphone check and didn't so much as glance at Sakura and Hidan when they walked in.

She also recognized Deidara, the blonde who'd come into the costume store with Sasori. He appeared to be tuning his electric guitar, but Sakura knew next to nothing about guitars. The only other person in the warehouse was Sasori, and since he was the band manager (and the only one she'd spoken more than a couple words to), Sakura approached him first.

"Hi, Mister… Akasuna…?" she trailed off, hoping he would supply the preferred name for her.

Sasori's honey-colored eyes shifted from Hidan to Sakura in half a second. "Sasori." Just like with Hidan, Sasori's eyes roamed over Sakura's body. Despite his examination being much more brief, Sakura felt doubly scrutinized by his keen gaze.

Hidan left the two of them alone and went straight for his drum set.

There was something unique about Sasori and the way his presence commanded the attention of those around him. He was quiet and calculating, always seeming to be three steps ahead of everyone else. He had this way of looking at Sakura that made her feel as if he could see straight through all her mental defenses and know exactly what she was thinking at any given time.

The silence between them was brief, but it felt like it stretched for ages under his intense stare. Finally, the corner of his mouth twitched upwards in what might have been a quick smile, and he said, "I look forward to hearing you sing again, Sakura."

A light blush dusted Sakura's cheeks, and she quickly turned her head away from him so that he wouldn't see. It was a relief when the warehouse door opened again and Itachi Uchiha entered. He was the last one to arrive, and Sakura was very happy to see a more familiar face.

"Hi, Itachi," she greeted.

He offered her a small smile and a polite nod. "Hello, Sakura. I see Sasori was able to convince you to join us today. I'm glad."

Sakura's smile was a little forced. "Ah, yeah, well… he can be very… persuasive."

Itachi's face lit up in rare amusement as Sasori raised a single eyebrow. Itachi spared Sasori a quick glance before switching his dark eyes back to Sakura. "Indeed. Well then, are you ready to show them what you can do?"

Sakura swallowed the lump in her throat. She couldn't be nervous. This would help her pay for her medical degree. It was important that she didn't mess up the opportunity.

Plus, the look on Sasuke's face when she told him she joined his brother's rock band would probably be pretty fucking priceless.

"I'm ready," she said, alive with newfound determination.

"The microphone is all set for you," said Pein. "Itachi says you work pretty well with Nightwish. Would that be Anette or Tarja?"

"Anette, but I liked Tarja, too," Sakura replied. She had more experience singing along with Anette than she did Tarja, the old lead singer of Nightwish. "Do you guys know _Amaranth_?"

Pein grinned at her. "Of course. Can you play _and_ sing?"

Sakura nodded. She looked around until she spotted a keyboard. "Just, um, give me a sec to remember it." She walked over to the keyboard and saw that it was already plugged in and turned on. She pressed a finger to the middle-C key and heard the piano tone. Satisfied, she tried to remember the intro to _Amaranth_. It took somewhere between forty-five seconds to a minute and a half, but she had it.

Hidan took that as his signal. He raised his drumsticks over his head and said, "All right, on four, assholes—one, two, three, four!"

Sakura began playing the intro to the song, and when it finished, Itachi and Deidara began playing their guitars, bass and lead, respectively. Sakura played along and readied her voice, and on Hidan's drum signal, she started to sing.

Sasori had been so enraptured by Sakura's voice that he hadn't even noticed Konan was now standing next to him. "That's pretty fucking impressive," she said, raising her voice so Sasori would hear her over the music. "And you found her in a _costume store_?"

Sasori wasn't really sure how to answer that, because he couldn't fully wrap his mind around it, either. "She was singing along to The Beatles."

Konan's interest was piqued. "Abbey Road?"

Hell if he knew. "Something about strawberries."

"Magical Mystery Tour," Konan supplied. She sounded impressed. "Girl's got class."

Her voice was a work of art. It was eternal beauty personified in _sound_. No matter how hard she strained it or how high or low she sang, Sakura sounded phenomenal. That same desire that he felt when he first heard her sing rose up within Sasori ten-fold.

He wanted her.

If only he could pull out that voice and lock it in a box with the rest of his art. Unfortunately, voices came with people attached, and there was no getting around that. Still, there was something about this girl. She was different from the air-headed morons that usually flocked around the band like brainless groupies. While Sasori's artistic side appreciated her porcelain skin and vibrant green eyes, he also had to admit that he was impressed by her determination and independence.

Paying for one's college tuition without any aid was nothing to scoff at, after all.

They wrapped up the song, and it appeared the other members of Akatsuki were more than satisfied. Deidara jumped over to Sakura and cheered her on, giving her a friendly clap on the back and words of welcome. Pein and Itachi looked equally impressed, and even Hidan was stroking his chin with an appreciative grin toward Sakura.

"That settles it," said Pein. He had a wry grin on his face. "Welcome to Akatsuki."


	2. The Affair

_**EDIT: As of 9 May 2014, all song lyrics have been removed for this re-posting in adherence with FFN's Terms of Service.**_

_**TK**_: Wow! I really didn't expect such a positive response to this story! The premise is just so out there and silly to me that I thought it would kind of be brushed aside. Still, thank you everyone for your kind comments. I appreciate each and every one of them and enjoyed responding to them all. Seriously, I got like, twice the amount of reviews I expected. So to show you all my gratitude, I rushed to get this done as fast as I could! Your reviews are the best, purest inspiration, and I am happy to deliver to you Part 2! Only one part left!

To NamelesslyNamed: Kisame is in this chapter just for you :)

Feel free to send any other requests in your reviews.

There is also a subtle Dragon Age reference in section VIII and a Scott Pilgrim reference in section IX. Oh, and a Yu Yu Hakusho reference in section VII.

**Music**: Same note as Part 1. Part 2 is split into 5 'song-chapters' with music that goes along with the story. Listen along while you read if you wish. You might find some music you haven't heard that you like! Or some that you have heard a thousand times. Either way, enjoy.

**Soundtrack for Part 2**

"**Feel It" Jakalope  
"Girl All the Bad Guys Want" Bowling for Soup  
"Rock of Ages" Def Leppard  
"Don't Stop Me Now" Queen  
"Closer" Nine Inch Nails**

The cover image belongs to _shion1994_ on DeviantART and is titled "sakura rock".

**[Summary: **When Akatsuki, a famous rock band, loses its keyboardist and backup vocals, bass guitarist Itachi Uchiha has the perfect idea for a replacement. Renowned artist and band manager Akasuna no Sasori can't help but agree.**]**

* * *

_**Rock Star Rising**_

_TK Grimm_

* * *

**Part 2: The Affair**

* * *

"_We're more popular than Jesus now; I don't know which will go first – rock and roll or Christianity."_

—_John Lennon of The Beatles_

* * *

**VII: "Feel It" Jakalope**

* * *

Sakura was both thrilled and terrified that she'd been accepted into Akatsuki. For starters, they were one of the world's most popular rock bands. _Everyone_ had heard of them. She worried that she wouldn't be able to fill Konan's shoes. She was the only woman in the band, and she had a pretty massive fan following. Would the fans accept Sakura as the new keyboardist and backup vocalist?

She supposed it could be worse. She was grateful that Pein was the lead singer and front man, so most of the attention would be on him. It was still intimidating, though.

The worst thing was that Sakura couldn't tell either of her best friends. Naruto was mostly trustworthy, but he was also very simple-minded. It would be easy for him to accidentally let the news of Sakura's new "job" slip. And Ino, her best _female_ friend, was a notorious gossip and wouldn't be able to keep a secret this heavy if her life depended on it. In fact, it was such a big secret that Ino would probably die happy just for the chance to gossip about it.

It was with great reluctance that Sakura quit her part time job at the costume store. She had always considered herself a responsible person, and quitting a job to join a band just felt… odd. She didn't even have time to put in a two-week notice, not really. She sort of just called and said, "Hey, um, I'm really sorry to spring this on you guys, but I got another job, so I won't be able to work for you anymore."

A pretty big part of her was very happy that she wouldn't have to work retail ever again. That was hell. Even at a costume store, it was still hell.

Sakura continued her studies at University of Konoha and remained diligent in her pursuit of the medical field. What lacked, however, was her social life. After classes and on weekends, she spent most of her time with Akatsuki trying to learn the band's songs. She had to take Konan's place, after all, and there was a lot of material to go over in time for the new tour.

From then on, her life was school, band, and sleep. There just wasn't time for anything else.

Especially Sasuke. He stubbornly refused to call, and honestly, Sakura was too busy to even notice most of the time. And she was completely okay with that. Moving on was a lot easier than she ever thought it would be. Perhaps she'd been moving on this whole time, even while she was with him, and Sakura just never really noticed.

Sakura was early to band practice tonight. She walked over to Konan's keyboard and plugged it in. Once she was seated in front of it, she began fishing through her iPod for an Akatsuki song. She found one she wanted and put one of her earbuds in. She kept the other out so she could listen to herself play along.

This particular song had been giving her a hard time with the keyboard parts. Konan had a specific tone set for this song where each register was a different sound, from a choir singing to guitar strings to piano keys to something akin to industrial dubstep. Konan had, of course, tried to help Sakura through it, but it was completely different to anything Sakura had played before, so she was having trouble.

Showing up early to practice meant that Sakura could have some time alone to try to figure it out. She played that part of the song on her iPod and attempted to play along. She even got out a pencil to mark the keys where the 'instrument' or sound changed.

She ran through it four times before pressing pause on her iPod and letting out a frustrated sigh.

"You're trying too hard."

Sakura nearly jumped out of her skin when she heard Sasori's voice. She turned her head and saw him standing nearby. He was leaning on his side, propped against a stack of crates with his arms crossed over his chest. His amber eyes were regarding her with something akin to curiosity.

"What's wrong with trying hard?" Sakura asked, watching him as he watched her.

"There's nothing wrong with it," Sasori replied.

He walked over to her with pristine grace, as if every move he made was as precise and calculated as a victory in chess. When he reached her, he looked down at the sheet music on the keyboard and the various notes scribbled across the white paper in Sakura and Konan's handwriting.

Sasori continued, "What I meant was that you're trying too hard to sound exactly like Konan does when she plays this song. You should go with what feels right. Work on making it your own."

Sakura's eyebrows rose in surprise. That was pretty sound advice from the _band manager_ of all things. She briefly wondered whether or not Sasori was musically inclined. She opened her mouth to speak, but Sasori made an impatient sound in the back of his throat and gestured for her to get on with it by waving his hand.

Sakura restarted the song on her iPod. She listened to the first minute of the song, and when she tried to play, she subconsciously leaned toward Konan's method.

When Sasori saw this, he snatched the sheet music from the keyboard stand and actually _crumpled it up_. He threw it aside and said, "Don't keep me waiting, Sakura."

She swallowed hard in her throat and restarted the song once more. This time, she had no reference to go off of. The song played for a few seconds, and she ran her fingers over the keys. When she heard the cue from Hidan's drum set in the song, she began to play.

Sasori had a good point, Sakura decided. She wasn't Konan—she was Sakura. As much as she liked Konan, she and Sakura had completely different styles. This time, when she played, it flowed. She ignored the industrial sounds and focused on the heavy drum line to keep the beats. She even found a couple of opportunities to throw in a few notes from an electronic violin setting on the keyboard, and it sounded _amazing_.

Sakura set down her iPod while it continued to play. She beamed happily at Sasori. To her delight, he looked very impressed by her musical progress.

"That felt so much more natural!" Sakura said. "I really like it! Do you think the band will be okay with the changes?"

"They likely expect you to make it your own," Sasori told her.

"How do you know that?"

"I've been around a lot of musicians," he replied. His pale brown eyes drifted down to the keyboard in an almost wistful gaze. "And music itself is a type of art."

Sakura's curiosity rose. "You're an artist?" She realized that she didn't really know much about Sasori, despite having had more contact with him than the other band members.

The wistful expression on his face faded a little. "I was once." He reached up and pinched the bridge of his nose in a stressed gesture. "That was a long time ago."

He sounded like someone who had once been very passionate about art but had somehow lost all of that. Sakura wondered what that was. What was it that could take away something so pure from a strong person like Sasori?

"What kind of art did you do?"

"Everything." Sasori lowered his hand, and his eyes drifted back to Sakura's face. "Tell me," he said, his voice thoughtful. "What do you think art is?"

Sakura furrowed her brow in confusion. It was a strange question, random, and one she'd never been asked before. She shrugged and tried, "An expression of something creative, I guess. Literature, music, sculptures…"

She wasn't sure what she saw on Sasori's face then, but if she had to guess, she would hazard to call it… disappointment. "How very… analytical of you." He gave a humorless smile and said, "I would expect nothing less from someone studying to be a _doctor_."

Frustration bubbled in the pit of Sakura's stomach. "You say that like it's a bad thing."

"It is if it limits you to seeing the world as black and white—equations, theories, facts. None of that is art. None of that truly matters."

Sasori turned away from her, and she thought he was going to walk away. She quickly leapt up from the chair and reached out for him. Her fingers wrapped around his arm, and he stopped. He glanced back at her, looking annoyed. He didn't like to be touched, apparently.

"Then what _does_ matter?" Sakura asked.

She was genuinely curious. She'd never met anyone like Sasori before, and getting inside his head was unlike anything she'd ever experienced. No one had ever tried to have such a serious conversation with Sakura before. Even in university, she was the smartest in her class but underestimated and considered an idiot because of how she looked.

_I'm not just a pretty face._

Sasori was the first who took her seriously and gave her a chance to impress him with her words. She hadn't succeeded, but that didn't matter. He acknowledged her.

"How do _you_ look at the world?" Sakura asked him. "_What is art_?"

Sasori stared at her for a long time. Finally, he turned and stepped toward her. Sakura's hand slipped from his arm, but she didn't back up. With a single step, he was barely an inch apart from her, looking down at her with an intensity she had never seen in any other man.

"Art is something that lasts forever," Sasori murmured. He raised his hand to her chin and lightly took hold while he spoke. "Something frozen in perfect immortality, withstanding the wear and tear of time and the world around it. It is eternal beauty in this world and the next and every life beyond."

That passion was back, the fire in his eyes that came from talking about something he truly loved. If art did this to Sasori, then Sakura couldn't imagine why he would ever give it up. The way he described it was poetic, beautiful, and full of longing.

_He is beautiful._

Sakura felt her knees grow weak under Sasori's intense gaze. His index finger went from her chin up to her lips and ran lightly over them. The song on her iPod continued to play. Sasori seemed to be gravitating toward her, and Sakura felt the same magnetic pull. She leaned into him, her head tilting up to his.

"Oi, Sasori, I was—_holy_ _shit_!"

Sasori and Sakura pulled back from each other as if they'd been burned. Sasori had a scowl on his face that showed his annoyance. Sakura, on the other hand, was bright red with embarrassment. She sat back down at the keyboard and buried her face in sheet music.

The intruder was Hidan, of course. It was difficult to decide who was Akatsuki's most obnoxious member, because Hidan and Deidara were both pretty high on the tally. With this encounter, though, Hidan scored the first place marker.

A malicious grin slowly spread over Hidan's face like the Grinch who stole Christmas. "Am I interrupting something?"

"No," Sakura said at the same time that Sasori snapped, "Yes."

Hidan chuckled darkly at their misfortune. "Hey, sorry, man, I didn't mean to fuckin' _cockblock_ you. I wouldn't mind grabbing a piece of that ass, myself."

"_It wasn't like that_!" Sakura shrieked. She was thoroughly mortified that _Hidan_ of all people had to walk in on her and Sasori while they were in a compromising position. She didn't even know _why_ they were in that position to begin with. One minute they were talking about art, and the next they were—they were—

"We were discussing art," Sasori said. "Could you endeavor not to be an imbecile for once, Hidan?"

The large door to the warehouse slid up, and Pein held it open so Deidara and Itachi could duck underneath and enter. Deidara was twirling a guitar pick between his fingers and chatting amiably with Pein while Itachi quietly followed.

"Discussing art, huh?" Hidan drawled. "I'm not fucking stupid, no matter what Kakuzu says." At Sasori's dark look, Hidan held up his hands in mock surrender. "If that's the bullshit way you wanna tell it, fine."

"You were discussing art?" Deidara asked. His conversation with Pein was forgotten as he trotted over to Sakura with a gleeful expression. "I love art, yeah! I try to make each concert as artistic as I can."

Sakura's embarrassment was momentarily forgotten. She looked at Deidara with curiosity and asked, "Yeah?"

"Oh yeah," Deidara told her. "Art is a bang!"

A crumpled piece of paper flew from nowhere and hit Deidara in the face. It took Sakura a moment to recognize it as the sheet of music that Sasori had tossed aside earlier. She looked at him right as he said, "No, it isn't."

"But it _is_, Danna!" Deidara whined. "Art can be many things! But the true, best form is an explosion. It's that fleeting moment of pure perfection that just, ah, gets me every time… yeah."

Sasori was looking at Deidara as if he couldn't believe he was cursed with being acquaintances with such a man. "Tell me, what is it like living in the constant haze of stupidity?"

Sakura covered her mouth to hide her soft snort of laughter. She got the distinct impression that Deidara and Sasori bickered about art frequently, especially since no one else in the band seemed to be even remotely affected by it.

Hidan's voice broke her reverie. "So we having band practice or what, Pinky?"

"_Yes_," Sakura said, a little too quickly. "I mean—I'm ready. Let's do this!"

* * *

**VIII: "Girl All the Bad Guys Want" Bowling for Soup**

* * *

That Saturday, as Sakura didn't have class, she was able to meet the rest of the band at Warehouse No. 9 around eleven in the morning. Deidara and Hidan arrived bleary-eyed and half-asleep, but Itachi and Pein were lively and ready to go.

They barely made it through one of the songs before the door to the warehouse slid open and Konan walked in. She was wearing a pair of jeans with several fashionable rips and tears. Her shirt was black and off-shoulder with the word _Godsmack_ in front of a tribal red-orange sun.

Pein grinned at her. "Well if it isn't my lovely wife here to listen to me sing." He spread his arms out wide, but Konan walked right past him and headed for Sakura.

"Hey!" she greeted. "You can't practice today. I need to borrow you."

Sakura tilted her head in confusion. "Huh?"

"What about me?" Pein asked with a frown.

"Hush," Konan said to him. "I don't come back just to visit _you_."

"Well that comes as a shock," he drawled.

Konan switched her amber-colored eyes back to Sakura. "Kakuzu has your contract ready for you to sign. And I thought that would be a good opportunity to get some money from him to go shopping with you today. What do you think?"

Hidan, who was sitting at his drum set looking bored, suddenly snorted in disbelief. "As if Kakuzu would ever part with a fucking _penny_."

"He will if he knows what's good for him," Konan said. "We have got to get Sakura some new clothes."

Sakura self-consciously looked down at the pink summer dress she was wearing. Her eyes drifted over to Deidara. He was wearing a pair of baggy jeans and a Jimmy Hendrix hoodie. Pein had on some tight-fitting faded gray jeans with a black Nirvana t-shirt. Itachi was wearing all black and decorated with more buckles and metal spikes than seemed necessary. Hidan was shirtless again with another pair of black leather pants and some spiky boots.

Okay, so they were a bit more grudge (and in some cases, metal) than she was.

"Will it take longer than an hour, yeah?" Deidara asked.

"Deidara," said Konan. "When a woman goes _shopping_, it is an all-day ordeal." She switched her gaze back to Sakura and asked, "Shall we?"

暁 _**Rock Star Rising **_暁

"Have a seat and we'll discuss your contract."

The man's name was Kakuzu, and despite looking like he was one of Rob Zombie's movie characters, he was apparently Akatsuki's financial manager. He had long brown hair and eerie green eyes that frankly gave Sakura the creeps. There were many scars on him and a few stitches, like on his wrists and mouth (and probably other places), but she didn't dare mention them in case it was a sensitive subject.

"Don't let his grumpy attitude fool you," said Konan. "Kakuzu's a good guy."

Kakuzu narrowed his eyes. He certainly didn't _look_ like a good guy, but Sakura decided not to comment. Instead, she obediently sat down in the chair across from Kakuzu's desk. Konan stood behind her. In the short time she'd been with the band, Sakura already really liked Konan. She seemed to have no ill will toward Sakura for replacing her in Akatsuki and was actually very helpful and supportive.

"I'll need you to sign here," said Kakuzu. He slid a white packet of stapled papers across the desk toward Sakura. There was a black mug with a red cloud nearby that was filled with various pens.

Sakura took a pen and looked at the front page of the contract. The spot where she was to sign was marked by an X. "I'm not signing away my life or anything, am I?" she asked, trying to lighten the mood.

"No," Kakuzu told her. He had a deep, gravelly voice, but he sounded more patient than Sakura had expected. "You're allowed out at any time after the album and subsequent tour is completed. You must meet all tour dates unless serious illness or family emergency occurs. Your contract becomes void if these are not met." Kakuzu rambled off a few quick legalities before finishing with, "Nothing life binding."

"Sounds simple enough," Sakura said slowly. "But if one of you asks me to drink the punch at the backstage party, I'm drawing the line." She lowered her pen to the paper and wrote her signature, pleased when she heard both Kakuzu and Konan chuckle at her joke.

Konan stepped forward and pressed her hands to the desk, leaning toward Kakuzu with a mischievous look on her face. "Are you done now? Can we have our shopping money?"

Kakuzu glanced at the signature on the contract before shooting Konan a decidedly sour look. "Fine." He reached into the top drawer of his desk and took out a black checkbook. With fine penmanship, Kakuzu wrote a number on the line as well as his illegible signature.

When he showed the check to Konan, she stood up straight and folded her arms over her chest. "I can't even buy her new _panties_ for that much. Stop being such a miser, Kakuzu."

Kakuzu grumbled something unintelligible and added two zeroes at the end of the number. "Better?"

"Much," Konan replied, snatching the check before Kakuzu could change his mind. She turned to Sakura and grinned at her. "Shall we?"

Apparently, if Sakura was to be a full-fledged member of Akatsuki, she needed a new wardrobe. As the only other girl involved with the band, Konan was more than happy to take her shopping—on Akatsuki's spending money, of course. They went straight for a massive shopping mall in the middle of downtown. Konan took Sakura to a variety of stores, and they bought at least one thing at each place.

"So what do you think so far?" Konan asked her. The two of them were in side-by-side dressing rooms trying on skimpy black dresses. Konan knew she wouldn't be able to dress like this for long, considering she would be showing signs of pregnancy in a month or so, but she wanted to enjoy it while she still could.

Sakura turned and examined herself in the dressing room mirror. "Eh, well, I don't usually wear black, but I suppose it looks okay."

She heard Konan laugh in the room next to hers. "Not the dress. I meant being in a rock band. You've had a couple practice sessions with them now. How do you like it?"

"Oh, um, it's fun," Sakura replied honestly. "Deidara and Itachi are really helpful, and Pein is funny. Hidan's kind of an ass though. Don't tell him I said that."

"I won't," Konan said, sounding amused. "He _is_ an ass, but he grows on you. In his own… weird way."

"Like Kakuzu?"

"Yep. The two of them go way back."

They stepped out of the dressing room and modeled the dresses for each other. Sakura did a couple of spins on Konan's request, which earned her a few appreciative whistles from other shoppers. Konan responded by pretending to walk down an imaginary catwalk, which earned more whistles and a few chuckles and applause.

Konan had that way about her, Sakura noticed. It didn't matter where they went, but people just seemed to gravitate to her. She somehow managed to pull off refined elegance paired with heavy metal badass, and Sakura had no idea how she did it. When Konan walked, people took notice. When she spoke, they listened.

"Okay, seriously, _how_ do you do that?" Sakura asked in exasperation.

"Do what?" Konan asked as the two of them kept walking.

"That!" Sakura said. "You just—that thing with your hips—you like, _swagger_ when you walk. Seriously, you take two freaking steps and everyone turns to watch."

"Oh, you don't really think about it," Konan replied with ease. "You just sort of… strut."

Sakura furrowed her eyebrows. "Like a rooster?"

"It's all part of the show, Sakura," Konan told her. She waved her hand once in an elegant hand gesture as she spoke, "It's stage presence. You'll get the hang of it."

They went through another store, and Sakura ended up buying several varieties of makeup that she never thought she'd ever use, even when Konan told her, completely seriously, that they would need them all.

As they were leaving, Konan started another subject of conversation. "I heard Hidan walked in on you and Sasori the other day."

Sakura choked on her own spit. She coughed a couple times and sputtered indignantly. "No! I mean, we were just talking!"

The smirk on Konan's face spoke volumes more than she did. "Is that all? That's a shame. I've always thought Sasori was very attractive. Don't you?"

"You're _married_!" Sakura said, horrified.

"And in love, and all that, of course," Konan affirmed. "Doesn't mean I can't appreciate an attractive man when I see one. You think Pein doesn't check out other woman? There's nothing wrong with _looking_, Sakura."

Sakura supposed that Konan and Pein had a level of trust between them that she and Sasuke would probably never have. They were comfortable and fit perfectly, and Sakura was admittedly awed by it.

"So do you?" Konan asked.

"Do I what?"

"Find Sasori attractive."

"Well, uh—I mean—I'm not saying he _isn't_, I guess he certainly _is_, but I would never, I mean, I wouldn't presume to—he's our _manager_."

Konan's smirk was back in place. "That basically boils down to _yes_." The smirk faded for a moment. "Hey, did you really break up with Itachi's brother?"

Ah… there was that again. People had been calling and texting her asking that same question for a whole week since the party. Most of them cheered her on, calling Sasuke every name in the book. He'd made quite a few enemies when he turned into a jackass after ditching their Konoha friends for some crowd from Oto—wherever the fuck _that _was.

"Yeah, it's over," Sakura said. She wasn't sure how permanently over it was. Part of her, deep down, hoped that someday, things would go back to normal and it would be her, Naruto, and Sasuke just like when they were kids. The other part, her more rational side, told her to stop day dreaming about the past and move on with her life.

She supposed that without Akatsuki to distract her, she'd be trapped in emotional stasis and indecision over her love life. Perhaps it was a good thing Sasori came back to her that day in the store to ask her to join again. It made her life go in a positive direction that _didn't_ involve Sasuke.

Konan picked up on Sakura's silence. "It sounds like you're trying pretty hard to move on. You know, I think that's good for you."

"Yeah, I think so, too," Sakura agreed. She meant it, too. Moving on was probably the best thing she could do.

"You could always just sleep with Sasori."

Sakura tripped. "What! No, I can't! I can't—I wouldn't—you just don't _do _that, Konan!"

"Why not?" Konan asked. "I'm sure he'd be up for it."

Sakura stared at the older woman. "Wow, you just… you just _completely_ missed my point. Just, sailed right over your head. Probably because it's in the _gutter_. Didn't have to sail very high."

Konan snorted with amusement. "Relax! It was just a suggestion. Might help you move on, is all."

"Just… no."

"Okay, okay," Konan said to placate her. There was a brief pause before she grinned at Sakura, "But you _do_ find him attractive."

"Konan!"

He was wearing a black blazer left open over a white undershirt. He didn't look up as they approached and instead continued texting on his phone with his right hand while his left tapped impatiently on the table.

* * *

**IX: "Rock of Ages" Def Leppard**

* * *

Ino's shriek was deafening, even over a cell phone.

"WHAAAAAAAAT?"

Sakura held the phone away from her ear so the blonde's shrill cry wouldn't cause any permanent damage.

"You joined a BAND?"

Sakura carefully returned her cell phone back to her ear. She fiddled with the hem of her lacy black skirt (this new wardrobe thing was taking her a while to get used to). "Yeah. But Sasuke's brother is in it. You know, Itachi? So it's not like, a group of strange men I've never met."

Except that it really pretty much was.

"Oh my god. Oh my GAWD, Forehead!"

Sakura grimaced. She knew Ino would have a reaction like this. "Yeah. So, listen, uh, we're kind of doing a secret gig in Konoha in a week to introduce me. It's word of mouth only because they're kind of a big deal."

"No shit?" Ino said. "They're fucking _Akatsuki_. Who hasn't heard of them?"

"Yeah…"

"Well where are my tickets?" Ino suddenly demanded. "I'm bringing Sai and Naruto and like, everyone."

Sakura leaned her chair backward so she was balanced on the back two legs. She was sitting in her room in front of her vanity table debating over eye shadow choices. "I'll e-mail them to you. Hang on, I've got a text."

She lowered her phone from her ear and looked at the message she'd just received from Naruto.

**YOU JOINED A BAND AND DIDN'T TELL ME?!**

"What the—" Sakura broke off. She listened to Ino ramble about how sexy the band members were while she typed a quick response to Naruto.

**Who told you?!**

"Seriously," Ino was saying, "You are going to have access to SO MANY FINE PIECES OF ASS in that band, I can't even put a label on how jealous I am."

Sakura talked to Ino with her phone on speaker-mode while she applied a black eyeliner in the way Konan had taught her during their girl's-day-out a while back. "I guess they're pretty good-looking," she agreed. "I just… I don't know. I'm more shocked that I'm actually _in_ the band. It hasn't really sunken in yet."

"Yeah, I mean, I knew the music thing was a hobby for you," Ino agreed, "but I never thought you'd actually do anything with it. You've always been so serious about wanting to be a doctor like Granny Tsunade. Don't tell her I called her that, Forehead!"

Sakura was about to reply, but her phone buzzed with a response from Naruto. She opened it and read it quickly.

**Ino, duh**

"Ino!" Sakura scolded. "How do you _do_ that?"

"Do what?"

And that was how Sakura went from being a boring med school student to suddenly being the most gossiped about person in all of Konoha. Word spread about her involvement like wildfire, and by the end of the week, Akatsuki's secret gig and its mystery location was the talk of the big city.

暁 _**Rock Star Rising**_ 暁

"Nervous?" Konan asked, looking at Sakura with an amused smile. There were precious few minutes left before they were to go on stage for their secret show. Konan helped Sakura get ready, and now she was pacing back and forth in Pein's dressing room while he got ready and Konan watched.

"Yeah," Sakura admitted.

Pein's reply to that was simple. "The fans have to get used to there being a new keyboardist. There's going to be a few loyal Konan fans who will be pissed off, but they'll either accept you or hate the band forever." He concluded this with a shrug of his shoulders, as if he hadn't a care in the world.

"Isn't that risky for the band?" Sakura asked worriedly.

Pein slipped one of his black snakebite piercings through his lower lip. "I suppose." He slipped the other one through and fastened the back. After a few experimental moves of his lips, he gave a satisfied nod and returned his silvery eyes to Sakura. "A lineup change can break a band easily. Look at Judas Priest. When Rob Halford left the band and was replaced with Butch Owens, the majority of the fans were pissed off and quit listening to the band. Of course, they got Rob back after that."

Konan gave Pein a very brief glare as if to say, '_You're not helping_.' Then, she smiled at Sakura and said, "_Or_, you could look at all of the _wonderful_ bands who got a replacement member and rock. Like AC/DC for example. Brian Johnson actually made the band _more _popular than it was with Bon Scott."

The blue haired woman's words actually did find some comfort for Sakura, and she gave her friend a relieved, grateful smile, which was returned with a quick wink. Konan was starting to show signs of a small baby bump, and the pregnant glow seemed to suit her.

Konan patted Sakura's shoulder encouragingly. "Sasori wouldn't have signed you on if he didn't have faith in you. He has high expectations, and you obviously met them."

"She's right," Pein said. "I may be the front man, but Sasori is the manager. He has to have the final word, and he approved you before any of us did."

"I just don't want to ruin it for everyone," Sakura said softly. The revelation of Sasori's faith in her was startling… and at the same time, it was also enthralling. He definitely didn't seem like a man who was easily impressed, and yet, when he looked at her… he saw something worthwhile.

She desperately wanted to prove him right.

"You won't," Pein told her, breaking Sakura from her train of thought. "We've all heard you play and sing. You belong with us." He fastened the last of his many earrings in and closed the lid on the jewelry box with a satisfied _click_.

And that was that.

The front man was dressed and ready to go, so the band gathered together just backstage. Sakura could hear a raving crowd, but she didn't dare peek. She'd seen the magazine headline just days before, the one that read:

**AKATSUKI GETS NEW MEMBER  
World-Famous Rock Band Recruits Mystery Girl**

It was full of all sorts of scandalous theories, but none of them were even remotely true. Despite the location of the secret gig being revealed the day before, the venue was full of eager fans waiting to catch a glimpse of the new band member.

Sakura tried not to think about it. She failed. The full weight of what she'd done sank in when she'd read that article. She realized then that, as a member of Akatsuki, her life was no longer her own. The gig tonight was her introduction, and she would be forever kissing her anonymity goodbye. Now, there would be magazines, newspapers, journalists, paparazzi—the works.

And it was only the beginning.

Sasori had to deal with most of the press issues concerning the secret show. Whenever a band did a secret show, it created all sorts of paperwork headaches for the higher ups. Regardless, it was a necessary evil, because Sakura needed a debut before their actual tour began. It had been a full month since she joined, and she'd made amazing progress, but this was an important step that couldn't be skipped.

Naturally, Kakuzu had been less than thrilled to hear that the profits from the secret show were going to some bullshit charity and not his endless pockets, but that was usually the deal with secret gigs. Sasori dealt with Kakuzu's foul mood, and both of them grudgingly agreed to the terms.

Sasori's honey-brown eyes drifted over to Sakura. She stood apart from the rest of the band. Her fingers were squeezing the fabric of her plaid red skirt in a nervous gesture. Konan had the idea to dress Sakura up as a naughty school girl with heavy metal accents, and it reminded Sasori of the day he'd recruited her for the band. Sakura had a lot of heavy eyeliner and eye shadow on, and her lips were covered with glistening pink gloss. Her pink hair was pulled into two short pig tails. She was wearing knee-high socks and some glossy black shoes.

She looked like false innocence—a tantalizing treat like ice cream on a stick just waiting to be licked off.

But she was also wrinkling her expensive skirt.

Sasori walked over to her and lightly took her wrists and pulled them up from her skirt. "Calm down," he told her, his voice surprisingly gentle. Sakura stared at him through startled, pale green eyes, and Sasori returned her gaze. "You'll be fine. You know the set list by heart."

Sakura gave him a feeble nod. Sasori hadn't let go of her wrists, so her fingers snared around the fabric of his black blazer. She was shaking.

"I don't think I can do this, Sasori…"

"Yes, you can," he told her. "Stop trying to make me regret my decision to hire you. You're stronger than this."

Well, he wasn't getting anywhere with that approach, so Sasori decided to try another. He wasn't a patient man by any means, but he knew that was what Sakura needed at that moment. He looked down at their hands and slowly sighed. Sasori lowered his hands from Sakura's wrists to her hands, lightly holding them within his own. He raised her right hand up to his lips, his eyes gazing into Sakura's, and he lightly kissed the back of her hand.

Sakura's breath caught in her throat. A pink blush dusted her cheeks that complimented her hair. "Sasori?"

"Stop doubting yourself," he told her. His intense gaze was overpowering. He hadn't lowered her hand yet. "You are _magnificent_."

Her lips parted in shock, and her blush intensified. She took a breath to speak, but she was cut off by Hidan's voice.

"Come on, bitches!" the silver-haired man called. "Let's get this fucking show on the road!"

* * *

**X: "Don't Stop Me Now" Queen**

* * *

The secret gig had been a huge success. In spite of her initial nervousness, Sakura commanded her section of the stage with the confidence that Sasori brought out of her. She played her parts on the keyboard with various sounds for each of the songs, and she sang alongside Pein whenever there was a side role that called for her female voice.

The crowd went wild.

And after, Kakuzu got them a _limousine _ride to the hottest after party in the city. It was held at Elixur, a rock-themed night club in the heart of Konoha. The line to get inside stretched halfway around the block, but when the limousine pulled up, the bouncers cleared a path for everyone in Akatsuki (plus Ino and Naruto, Sakura's guests), to walk through.

It was just outside the front door that Sakura caught sight of a familiar face.

Of all the people in the world to run into right after Sakura's first gig, it was Sasuke fucking Uchiha. He was standing near the front of the queue to get in to the club, and he looked _pissed off_. Sakura recognized the girl hanging on Sasuke's arm as Karin. She was wearing a purple mini dress with her long red hair falling down her back and over her shoulders. Her equally red eyes were half-concealed behind a pair of round glasses.

"What do you mean '_it's full_'? I'm a fucking _Uchiha_."

The bouncer folded his arms over his ginormous chest. He was a huge, well-muscled man with electric blue hair and yellow contact lenses. Three gill-shaped tattoos were under each eye. There was a nametag with _Kisame_ written on it in sloppy handwriting.

"So what, you think that makes you entitled or something?" Kisame said, sounding unimpressed. "Fuck off, kid."

Pein stepped around Sakura and greeted Kisame like an old friend. "Kisame! I wondered why you weren't at the gig."

"Had to work," Kisame said with a toothy grin.

He and Pein reached for each other to clasp hands as if they'd been bros since the dawn of time. They even came in for that half-assed hug and slap on the back that men do when they're particularly close.

"This the new girl?" Kisame asked. He was looking at Sakura.

Pein pushed Sakura forward as if she were an offering. "Yep. This is our little Sakura."

Sakura's brow furrowed. "Little?"

Kisame laughed boisterously. "She's cute, yeah, but she's got no ass. A man needs some _cushion_."

Sasuke looked absolutely _murderous_. "Sakura?"

_Oh_—Sakura had forgotten about him. She supposed it was a bit ironic that all of her friends _except Sasuke apparently_ knew about her involvement with Akatsuki. She plastered a look of cool indifference on her face and said, "Oh, hi Sasuke."

"What are you doing with _them_?"

Itachi came up behind her and put both his hands on Sakura's shoulders. He was tall enough that he could look over her head with ease. "Didn't you hear, Sasuke? Sakura's our newest member. We just had a gig in The Arena an hour ago."

The look on Sasuke's face was every bit as priceless as Sakura imagined it would be.

"Absolutely not," said Sasuke. "I forbid it."

Sakura was livid. "_Excuse _me? Where do you get off telling me what to do? We are _over_, Sasuke! And I see you wasted no time in replacing me like you did Naruto!"

Naruto and Ino had pushed through the others by this point and stood on either side of Sakura with dark looks on their faces.

"Leave the idiot out of this," Sasuke said. "This is about you and me."

"There _is no_ 'you and me'," Sakura snapped.

"I'm not going to sit back and let you ruin your life by throwing in with _these ingrates_!"

"Hey, who the fuck is this kid?" Hidan demanded, having never actually seen Sasuke in person before. "I'm gonna bash his fucking face in."

Sakura sighed. Her involvement with the band was out in the open now, so the last thing she wanted was to cause a scene at the band's first after party. She reached over and lightly put her hand on Hidan's arm to calm him down. "It's okay, Hidan. He's just trying to make us mad. Don't let what he says get to you."

"And _you_," Sasuke went on, glaring at his brother. "That disgusting filth you call music—"

Sakura cut him off right away, her face incredulous. "You rude-ass cockatoo-sucking son of a bitch."

Sakura stomped over to Sasuke with her fist raised. Sasuke immediately brought his arms up to block, but that left his waist right open, so Sakura grabbed his shoulders and brought her knee right up into his groin. Sasuke let out a strangled gasp and fell to his knees in wordless agony.

"Gh…!"

Sakura stepped back and fluffed the collar of her black trench coat. The red cloud print on the back was Akatsuki's trademark. They all had one. She glanced over her shoulder at the unmasked glee on her fellow bandmates' faces and said, "Well? Are we going in or not?"

Hidan's eyebrows had almost vanished into his hairline. "Kakuzu," he said, leaning toward the band's financial manager. "I think I'm in love."

Kakuzu made a derisive snort. "Be careful, or you will die."

"Tch!"

As the rest of the band began filing into the club, Ino approached Sasuke. She put her hands on her hips and bent down at the waist to give him a playful grin. "Hey, Sasuke. Want some Midol?" She laughed at her own joke and said, "Haha, get it? 'Cause you're a girl now. C'mon, Naruto; let's go party."

The inside of the club was full of heavy bass and blaring music. There were flashing strobe lights and fog machines, and every inch of the dance floor was covered with bodies going with the beat or moshing to their own madness. Elixur was an enormous club. There was a bar on the left and right walls that was fully stocked with every kind of alcohol under the sun. A huge stage was toward the back where some bands played live, but tonight was a DJ who alternated between heavy metal and occasional rock-dubstep hybrids.

They even played a couple of Akatsuki's hits, like _Will of Fire_ and _Black Kunai_. Sakura danced and drank with her friends in a tipsy haze.

"Bottomless margarita night," Ino said as she slung an arm around her best friend's shoulders. "Fucking _every night _should be bottomless margarita night!"

Sakura couldn't help but agree.

"Pinky!" Hidan yelled. Of course, you had to yell to be heard over the music, but Hidan was just that loud normally. "Get your boney ass over here! You too, Blondie!"

Sakura and Ino scrambled over to where Hidan was standing. He was at one of the bars with the rest of Akatsuki. Some were sitting on barstools while the others were standing clustered near Hidan. The bartender was a woman with dirty blonde hair pulled into four pigtails on the back of her head. She had beautiful teal eyes and wore a revealing purple dress with a nametag that read _Temari_ in feminine writing.

"Get over here, princess," Pein said, gesturing Sakura toward him. In between Pein and Hidan were a line of shot glasses that the bartender, Temari, was in the process of filling with various types of whiskey.

"What's going on?" Sakura asked. She wished Konan could have come with them to the after party, but as she was pregnant, the blue haired woman couldn't drink alcohol. Still, at least Ino was there.

Deidara stepped between Sakura and Ino and put his arms around their shoulders. "Well, ladies, we like to do a good ol' Three Wisemen shot after each show. It's a tradition… yeah."

"Three Wisemen?" Sakura asked.

Pein reached for two shot glasses and handed one to Sakura and the other to Ino. "Jim, Jack, and Johnnie."

"Holy fuck," Ino said unceremoniously. She knew what that meant. Jim Bean bourbon whiskey, Jack Daniel's Tennessee whiskey, and Johnnie Walker Scotch whiskey.

"What is it?" Sakura asked. Ino ignored her.

Once everyone had a shot glass, even the managers Kakuzu and Sasori, Pein held up his and said, "To another tour and our newest addition, Sakura!"

Everyone raised their glasses and downed their shots.

Sakura's throat _burned_. She coughed and wheezed and drank the rest of her margarita to ease the sting of the whiskey. Hidan laughed and patted her on the back. When Sakura set down her glass, Temari began mixing her another one right away.

"Whoa," Sakura said. Her head was _swimming_. Definitely no more dancing.

Deidara wiped his mouth and slammed his shot glass on the bar. "Welcome aboard, Cherry Chick."

Another margarita later, and Sakura and Ino found themselves sitting at the bar together with giddy smiles on their faces.

"I've got to hand it to you, Forehead," said Ino. She wasn't slurring much, so she was the perfect amount of drunk and slowed down her intake to keep it that way. "This is pretty awesome."

When Sakura didn't reply right away, Ino followed her friend's gaze over to Sasori. He was sitting at the bar with a glass of something gold-colored on the rocks held up to his forehead. The condensation on the glass said he'd had it for quite a while. He didn't notice Sakura's stare and instead was talking to the bartender about something, but neither Ino nor Sakura could hear what.

Ino gave a low chuckle. "Crushing on your band manager, huh?"

Sakura jumped, startled. She whipped her head around to stare at Ino. The fast motion brought up a wave of dizziness, and she groaned and brought her hand to her head. "Whoa…" Once it passed, she switched her green eyes back to Ino and said, "I'm not _crushing_ on anyone! It's just, Sasori's been a really big help since I joined the band. That's all."

"Yeah?" Ino asked. "Like how?"

"He helped me with the songs that I was having trouble with," Sakura told her. "And before the show tonight, I was super nervous. Seriously, Ino-pig, I thought I was going to faint or throw up or something. And Sasori just…," she trailed off when she remembered exactly what Sasori had done.

Ino's grin widened. "Sasori just what?"

Sakura quickly took another drink of her strawberry margarita to buy herself more time. "Uh, well, he sorta talked to me, calmed me down, and um, maybe he kissed my hand, but it was actually really sweet—"

Ino squealed loudly and somehow managed to spill some of her margarita on her legs. She'd had enough alcohol that she didn't even notice the cold drink. "He's totally into you! You should go talk to him!"

Sakura gaped at her. "What? No!"

"Oh my _god_," Ino said exasperatedly. "Sakura, you march your skinny ass over there and tell him you think he's cute or I will tell him _for _you!"

The horrified look on Sakura's face was rather fantastic, but Ino didn't have a camera. "You wouldn't."

"Oh, I would," Ino warned her. "I'll make us all twelve years old again if I have to. Now you better hurry, because that blonde bartender over there had been coming on to him harder than a horny otaku."

True to Ino's metaphor, Temari actually _was _hitting on Sasori. "Come on," she cooed. "You look so _unhappy_, Sasori. Why don't you let loose and live a little?"

"Some of us have day jobs," Sasori replied blandly. He lowered his glass from his forehead to the table. "But I know how to let loose when the situation calls for it."

A slight smirk twisted the corner of Temari's lips upward. "Tonight?"

"Perhaps." He downed his drink and slid her the empty glass.

Temari poured him another. As she handed it back to him, she leaned forward toward the bar, her low-cut shirt giving a fantastic view of her breasts. She smiled at him coyly as Sasori accepted the drink. "Come on, Sasori. You and the guys are in here all the time when you're not touring the world. Would it kill you to respond to one of my advances for once? Rejection really hurts a girl's confidence after a while!"

Sasori made an amused noise in the back of his throat as he sipped his drink. He set it down on the bar and looked at Temari wordlessly. She was pretty, yes, and most certainly charming. But truthfully, she just wasn't interesting or talented. There was nothing artistic about her.

Temari was also smart, though; he had to give her credit for that. She knew her persistence never got anywhere with him, and more often than not, she turned it into a joke. "I will _pay _you to pretend you're having a good time with me."

"Pay me with another of these," he said, gesturing to his glass.

Temari was only too eager to comply.

Sakura wasn't sure why she did it, but she got up from her bar stool and made her way over to Sasori. Maybe it was because she believed Ino's threat about talking to Sasori _for _her (because Ino would definitely have done it), or maybe it was the alcohol giving her liquid courage, she didn't know. Then again, maybe it was from watching Temari flirt so blatantly with Sasori that finally made Sakura get up. Whatever it was, she walked toward him and nearly made it before she lost her footing and drunkenly tripped right in front of him.

And Sasori caught her.

They both stared at each other with mirrored expressions of shock. Both of Sasori's hands were on Sakura's back, holding her up so she wouldn't hit the floor, and Sakura's hands had instinctively landed on his chest.

Her face burned with embarrassment. "I'm so sorry…" she said. "I don't know what got into me."

The shock seemed to wear off, and if anything, Sasori looked _amused_. "I'd say bottomless margaritas were probably a start. Here," he said as he helped her get back to her feet.

He took his place back at the bar and sat down, but he remained facing her, watching her as she debated whether or not to sit next to him. In the end, Sakura plopped down on the barstool next to his and asked for another margarita. To Sakura's relief, Temari left them alone for a few minutes to make it.

"So does that sort of thing happen to you often?" Sakura asked.

Sasori raised an eyebrow. "Clumsy little girls falling at my feet?"

"_No_," Sakura said. She made a vague gesture toward Temari. "I mean, like, random women throwing themselves at you like that." When he didn't say anything, she attempted to clarify. "She obviously wanted you."

Sasori heard the obvious frustration in her tone, and he couldn't stop the grin that spread over his lips. "Are you jealous?"

Sakura glowered at him. "I'm not _jealous_. I'm just saying… she was coming on a little strong, y'know? Like, rabid raccoon meets car salesman."

"Indeed," Sasori said, mostly humoring her.

He couldn't really figure out what it was about Sakura that fascinated him so. She was this quirky little puzzle that he acquired pieces to every so often. It certainly was forming into a work of art, and he was eager to acquire all the pieces to see the finished product, but he almost felt as if that would end their little game all too soon. Sakura was a curious sort of treat that he actually wanted to take his time on. Given how impatient he usually was, this certainly spoke volumes for Sakura's more interesting qualities.

Sakura caught his stare and looked at him curiously. She had a light blush as she asked, "What is it, Sasori?"

"You don't give the impression of being anything other than an ordinary girl, but you are certainly something exceptional," he said.

She shot him a deadpan stare. "You have a truly _spectacular_ ability to make a compliment sound more like an insult."

Sakura averted her gaze away from Sasori and over to Temari, who was back with Sakura's fifth (or sixth?) margarita. It was probably the negative effects of the alcohol, but Sakura couldn't keep the sour look off her face as Temari passed her the drink.

When Temari left them in favor of another customer, Sakura heard Sasori chuckle beside her. She turned to him, and caught him watching her with obvious amusement. Sasori raised his glass to his lips and took a drink before setting it back down.

"I'm not interested in her, by the way," he said.

Sakura very drunkenly tried to say '_That's nice to know'_ and '_Why would you tell me_?' at the same time, so what ended up coming out of her mouth was, "That's nice to tell me."

Sasori pressed his free hand to his forehead, fingers locked between crimson hair, and his shoulders shook with silent laughter. "Oh, Sakura," he said, lowering his hand so his brown eyes could catch hers. "I'd tell you not to be jealous, but it's rather flattering, actually, and feels quite nice, so carry on."

"I'm not jealous, you conceited—mmph!"

His kiss was searing fire. He tasted like overpriced whiskey and unabashed arrogance, and even though it caught Sakura completely by surprise, she leaned into his touch and responded with an eagerness she hadn't felt since she was a teenager. By the end of it, if someone had asked her, 'What about Sasuke?' her response would have been, 'Sasuke who?'

It was liberating, like kissing freedom and rebellion. Sasori brought out a primal urge in Sakura that had her fingers clawing into the fabric of his black blazer. Alcohol or not, she knew full well where this encounter was going, but given everything that had happened to her recently, Sakura just didn't care.

In fact, she welcomed it.

* * *

**XI: "Closer" Nine Inch Nails**

* * *

"Are you sure this is wise?" Sasori asked, his fingers trailing light lines down Sakura's shoulders. They'd left the club, hailed a taxi, and made it to Sasori's skyline penthouse in all of fifteen minutes.

"I'm honestly not sure of anything right now," she told him. "Except that I want you."

Sasori reached toward her and gripped her chin between his index finger and thumb. "Perfect." He leaned toward her and kissed her, hard and bruising, as he pushed her backward into the closed bedroom door. His tongue slid over her teeth and tangled with hers, and Sakura arched her back when his fingers traveled up her spine. She wrapped her arms around his neck to hold him to her. Sasori hooked his teeth into her bottom lip, and Sakura moaned in blissful contentment.

Sasori growled—animalistic and impatient—and he lifted Sakura up and pressed her into the hard door against his stomach while his hands gripped her thighs. She locked her legs around him for support and wound her fingers into his tousled red hair. The ache between her legs had started almost unnoticeable, but it was quickly becoming the most unbearable thing she'd ever felt.

When he broke the kiss, Sakura gasped for breath. Sasori held her up once more and carried her over to his bed, depositing her on soft black sheets. She ensnared the collar of his shirt between the fingers of her right hand and pulled him down on top of her to lock him in another kiss. The blazing passion she felt for him made her alive with desire and boldness that she usually buried under modesty and self-doubt.

Because Sasori saw through it. Even from the start, he'd seen her value when most never bothered to even look for it.

Her brow furrowed with the intensity of their kiss. Their hands traveled over each other, discarding clothing and touching whatever expanses of skin they came across. Sakura felt the muscles in his arms and back flex as she trailed light lines over them with the tips of her fingers. She relished the way he ran his own hands over her body like a professional molding a masterpiece.

Sasori lowered his lips to Sakura's neck, and she gasped.

"You will be my greatest work of art," he murmured against her skin. He made a trail of sensual kisses along her collarbone. "Perfection immortalized in eternal beauty for all the world to see."

Gods, if she could bottle the way his words made her feel…

"_Sasori_…"

His fingers dug into the skin of her hips, and he bit down on her neck. The sharp cry that came from Sakura's lips was pure ecstasy. Whether or not the alcohol had faded from her system, there was nothing impairing her judgment. This was _divine_.

Sakura's gentle caresses were light and feathery against Sasori's skin, and they tested his already meager amount of patience. Each of her tiny moans and whimpers from her moist, bitten lips threatened his control and pushed him to his limits. The dim light of the lamp shone across her porcelain skin like shimmering gold. It lit up her hair like a blazing fire—a sunset that danced with color.

He slowly ran his left hand down her breasts and over her stomach as her back arched into him for more contact. When his hand reached her leg, he raised it up and slid off the first of her knee-high socks. While Sasori held her ankle up by his neck, he looked down at Sakura with wanting eyes. Her hair was splayed out behind her in short waves of gentle pink. Her sea foam green eyes were glazed over with her own desire, and she stared at him as if he were the only thing in her entire world.

"Beautiful," she said. She sounded breathless, and her chest moved up and down with each heavy breath she took. She spoke like someone admiring a priceless piece of art.

Sakura raised a shaking hand toward him, and Sasori took it. He released her leg and locked his fingers with Sakura's. When he leaned into her, she kissed him eagerly. One hand wound around his back and the other released his hand and threaded into his hair, both pulling him as close as he could possibly go. Sasori reached down with his right hand and pulled Sakura's other leg up. She bent with a nimble flexibility that allowed him to pull the other sock from her leg with ease.

She brought her hands to the front of his shirt and undid each of the buttons without breaking their heated kiss. When it was open, Sakura pressed her hands to his chest and slid them up and around his shoulders. Sasori let her slowly drag the shirt down his arms. He tossed it to the floor beside the bed.

Lowering himself back to Sakura, Sasori held her neck with one hand to deepen their kiss while his free hand traveled downwards along her body. When Sakura felt his long fingers caress her sex, her eyes shot open as a wanton cry burst from her lips. She wrapped her arms tightly around his neck and buried her face in his chest. Another gasp of pleasure came forth when he slipped one finger inside of her. Her nails dug into his skin, and her back arched against him.

Sasori lowered Sakura back to the bed. He removed his finger from within her and brought it up to his lips. In a tantalizingly slow motion, he slipped the digit into his mouth and sucked on the juices, all the while keeping his lust-filled amber gaze fastened to Sakura's. He raised an eyebrow, watching her with a keen curiosity as she panted below him. When Sasori lowered his body toward hers, his head barely an inch from hers, Sakura felt his hardness slowly grind against her sex once, and it made her writhe in his grasp.

The corner of his lips twisted up in a smirk, and Sasori brought his lips to Sakura's ear. "And they call _me_ impatient," he coyly murmured before taking the end of Sakura's ear between his teeth.

Sakura held the side of Sasori's face in her hand and brought him back to her lips for another kiss. She ran her tongue lightly along his lower lip and whispered, "_I want you_."

She felt his fingers inside her again, two this time, and she gave a blissful cry of pleasure. Sasori pressed his nose into Sakura's chin and neck, nuzzling her in a playful way while his thumb stroked up and down teasingly. "Perhaps if you beg."

_Smug bastard_. Damn his arrogance—his dominant nature. If she were in her right mind, she would slap him across his face. But at the moment, he would probably enjoy it. That, and Sakura could hardly string two words together, much less a coherent thought. Not with the madness he was driving into her.

When she felt the third finger, she cried out his name. "_Sasori_!"

His ministrations ceased, and Sakura felt the fingers of his free hand, the one rested on her waist, twitch with anticipation. So even Sasori was not immune to this.

With newfound determination, Sakura knew exactly how to get what she wanted. She put her left hand to Sasori's shoulder and brought her other in a closed fist by her forehead. Her breath came out in slow pants and she called his name again, low and full of desire.

"_Sasori_…"

The way she said his name completely eradicated what little patience he had left. They kissed frantically as Sakura removed his belt and Sasori undid the buttons at his waist. Sakura gave a near soundless gasp when he moved forward, his full length entering her without warning. She was wet enough to allow him in all the way, and the resulting wave of pleasure had Sakura seeing _stars_.

His hands grasped at her hips, digging in to her soft flesh with a biting sting as he fought to keep his control under the tightness of her walls. The feel of being inside her as she squeezed herself around him, holding him in their joint moment of physical connection, was more euphoric than he'd felt in years. He stretched her, pressing as far as their bodies would allow and engulfing them both in passionate fire.

When he withdrew slightly, she whined and pressed her nose to the side of his face in pleading. He pushed forward again, pressing Sakura into the bed. Her lips parted with an elated, "Ah!" She arched into him, rocking with him steadily and throwing back her head to cry out loudly.

The amount of effort it took to keep their pace slow was colossal, and it threatened to drive the both of them to madness. Every stroke, every touch was blinding with ecstasy and sent white hot bursts of pleasure through their skin. Sakura whimpered in promiscuous glee and spoke his name again through a breathy groan. "_Sasori_."

A sudden orgasm hit Sakura in a constricting rush. Her toes curled, and she howled like a banshee. Her fingers reached behind her head and ensnared the fabric of the sheets while she twisted and curved beneath him. But it wasn't over yet.

Sasori brought his right hand around the crook of Sakura's neck. He lowered his left to her rear and pulled Sakura up from the bed so she was sitting on his lap. Her legs were spread over his, her body pressed completely against him. She looked down into his eyes, and they met each other in an intense gaze that spoke of their desires for each other in communication beyond words.

Sakura pushed her hips forward and back as brown met green in an earthly stare of arousal and want. She slid against his length, relishing the feel of each and every motion between them. Sasori kept one hand at the small of her back while the other rose up to her neck. He dragged his index finger up her throat to her chin, beckoning her toward him. He kissed her fiercely, relishing the feeling of being inside her and grinding against her.

The heat between them was stifling, and their motions bordered on erratic. The exertion made tiny beads of sweat glide down their bodies in glistening droplets. Sakura dragged her fingernails up Sasori's back while he ensnared his fist within locks of her pretty pink hair. Each movement brought them closer to release. Sakura cried out Sasori's name as another orgasm rippled through her flesh from her sex and up her spine in delightful tingling sensations that spread like a spider's web. She shut her eyes tight in pleasure, shaking her head and pushing him inside of her as far as possible.

She heard his broken gasp before she felt his teeth sink into the skin between her shoulder and neck. She wound her fingers through his hair and held onto him for dear life as the deep strokes between them peaked before engulfing them both in white heat. The choked sound from his throat paired with Sakura's glorious scream while their climax seeped between their legs.

Sasori released Sakura's flesh from his teeth and raised his head. Sakura lowered her gaze, and she touched her forehead to his while they both tried to regain their senses. Their shaky breaths mingled as they watched each other in the aftermath of sex.

The weakness in Sakura's arms and legs made her feel as if she were boneless, but Sasori's grip on her body remained firm and steadying. The seconds passed with their quiet gazes and tired breaths. Their chests heaved together, skin to skin slick with sweat.

He took her again later in the night, after they both played teasing games with their tongues and fingers. Sakura reveled in his doting attention and Sasori bathed in her emanating light. She remained with him for the rest of the night, and all thoughts about alcohol, Sasuke, and university were happily erased from Sakura's mind.

There was only Sasori.

There was always only Sasori.


	3. The Dream

_**TK**_: Ah, well… I am here to happily present to you the third and final part to Rock Star Rising. Hopefully all of you will be able to read it. I'm really sorry for the inconvenience with FFN. Although, they should really be the ones apologizing to you, not me. Either way! I'm sorry, dear readers, for the wait you had to suffer between chapters. Hopefully the ending here makes up for it.

It's not the easiest thing in the world to write a story about rock and roll. Even more difficult than that is to write one about rock and roll with a _positive message_. I'm a pretty happy person, and I like to write happy endings and stories with good morals and messages. There's a lot of negative content in this story, technically (unprotected sex, drug use, alcohol use, etc), but I really wanted the overall feel/message of the story to be a positive one. Hopefully by the end of this chapter, you all get that impression from it. The positive message is just as important to me as the music itself.

There is an August Rush reference in section XIV.

**Music**: Part 3 is split into several 'song-chapters' with music that goes along with the story. Listen along while you read if you wish. You might find some music you haven't heard that you like! Or some that you have heard a thousand times. Either way, enjoy.

**Soundtrack for Part 3**

"**Heart-Shaped Glasses" Marilyn Manson  
"Cowboy" Kid Rock  
"Simple Man" Shinedown  
"Sorry" Buckcherry  
"Anywhere" Evanescense  
"Here's To Us" Halestorm**

The cover image belongs to _shion1994_ on DeviantART and is titled "sakura rock".

**[Summary: **When Akatsuki, a famous rock band, loses its keyboardist and backup vocals, bass guitarist Itachi Uchiha has the perfect idea for a replacement. Renowned artist and band manager Akasuna no Sasori can't help but agree.**]**

* * *

_**Rock Star Rising**_

_TK Grimm_

* * *

**Part 3: The Dream**

* * *

"_Music touches us emotionally, where words alone can't."_

—_Johnny Depp_

* * *

**XII: "Heart-Shaped Glasses" Marilyn Manson**

* * *

To say that Sakura was unhappy when Sasori explained to her (slowly, like an adult teaching a small child something they deemed too complicated for them to understand) that what happened between them was just sex was a bit of an understatement. Granted, she hadn't expected Sasori to miraculously decide to go off into the sunset with her or anything, but a little bit of commitment would have been nice. Instead, what she got was:

"I don't do relationships, Sakura," he'd told her. "Last night was fun, and I'd probably do it again, but don't make this out to be more than it was."

Had Sakura been younger, less grown up, even less patient, she probably would have found the nearest lamp and thrown it at his face. However, she was twenty-three, a bit older and wiser than she had been with Sasuke. She knew that, while Sasori obviously was attracted to her (and maybe probably a bit oddly fascinated by her, sort of like a nature expert finding an endangered species), there were just some things that men like Sasori were not comfortable with.

If his behavior thus far said anything, it was that _feelings and emotions_ were definitely in that category.

So she brushed it aside. Rather than finding the nearest heavy object and demonstrating Sakura's impressive strength by bludgeoning her band manager, Sakura decided that the best way she could handle the situation was through patient, clever planning.

She was just going to make him see what he was missing by not being with her.

"Okay," she'd said simply.

Sasori's look of surprise almost made her smirk, but Sakura held back. "Okay?" he asked.

Sakura gave a half-hearted shrug of acceptance. "I can't force you to date me. Last night was a blast, but if it was a one-time thing to you, I can't really complain. I mean, that's your choice, y'know?"

Sasori suddenly looked very apprehensive, as if he would take a step back from her at any moment. Or at least, perhaps he would have if he were not lying naked tangled in the bed sheets. He was on his stomach with one arm bent to prop his head up while he watched her get dressed.

"You're handling this surprisingly well."

It took a great deal of effort to look nonchalant, but the initial shock of Sasori's rejection had faded, and Sakura's rational mind had kicked in, so she managed it. "I'm not some princess looking for prince charming to sweep me off my feet. We're both adults here, Sasori."

The apprehension slipped away and was replaced with a look she dared to call _impressed_. "Indeed."

Sakura buttoned her blouse slowly, facing him as she did so. She didn't miss the way his amber eyes traveled downward for a moment before going back up to her face. "Anyway, I have class today, so I have to get going. I was planning on crashing at Ino's so I brought my uniform. I guess I'll see you around."

"I don't remember the uniform skirts being quite this short back in my day," he said as he watched her adjust her waistband.

This time, she did smirk at him. "Easy there, old man."

Sasori rolled his eyes. He stretched and made himself more comfortable in the bed. "Lock the door on your way out."

"Sure."

She turned to walk out of the room and didn't look back. She didn't have to. She knew he was watching. Whether or not she managed to pull of Konan's 'rooster-strut' was a mystery, but she liked to think that she did. When she closed his bedroom door, Sakura decided the first order of business was to look in Sasori's medicine cabinet in the restroom to find some pain killers. It was a mini-hangover at best, but it would still grate on her while she was at class. Then, she was off and on her way.

Sasori, on the other hand, had folded his arms in front of him to make a makeshift pillow, despite there being several actual pillows available. His hair fell over his eyes, and he raised his head half an inch to watch Sakura leave his bedroom through tangled red locks. He watched each step her legs took, reminded of the way they'd wrapped around his body the night before, and he felt an uncomfortable tingle travel down his spine.

When the door closed, he buried his face in his folded arms to stifle his frustrated groan.

He heard his cell phone ring, and a quick glance at the screen showed him Deidara's stupid beaming face. Sasori silenced it with a tap to ignore the call. A thought occurred to him, and he picked up his phone. A quick search through his contacts found Sakura's number paired with a picture of her smiling coyly at the camera.

Gods, what was she _doing_ to him?

Sasori assigned her a personal ringtone. It was _Heart-Shaped Glasses_ by Marilyn Manson. He didn't care. It fit.

Brat.

* * *

**XIII: "Cowboy" Kid Rock**

* * *

Of all the members of Akatsuki, Hidan took to the role of being in a rock band to the greatest extreme, even beyond Deidara's insufferable pyrotechnics. _Sex, drugs, &amp; rock 'n' roll_ had been the tagline of the genre for as long as he could remember, and Hidan loved every minute of it.

His oldest friend, if that's what you could call Kakuzu, for both of them would deny that, tended to disagree. He stood there in the doorway of the shabby apartment with his arms folded over his chest while he watched Hidan spend over four hundred a gram on heroin balloons. It was some expensive shit straight out of Hong Kong.

The disapproving look on Kakuzu's face spoke volumes, but Hidan happily paid the dealer with a grin on his face.

"Be careful," Kakuzu warned, "or you will die."

Hidan seemed to think he was immortal, for he rolled his eyes and said, "Telling _me_ that, Kakuzu?"

Kakuzu saw no reason to waste more words on the drummer, so he didn't bother. Instead, Hidan ranted and raved about what an amazing lifestyle he had since joining Akatsuki while Kakuzu drove them to their shared apartment in downtown Konoha.

Hesitant friends, reluctant roommates—sometimes you just couldn't label things.

"That fucking concert last week was _amazeballs_," Hidan said as Kakuzu unlocked the door. "And watching Sakura knee that asshole in the dick was probably the hottest thing I've ever seen."

"More than your obsession with your reflection?" Kakuzu drawled.

Honestly, the amount of money Hidan spent on hair care products made Kakuzu want to cut Hidan's pay in half.

Hidan paid him no mind and started opening up one of the balloons of fine white powder on the kitchen table, much to Kakuzu's distaste. Kakuzu went to great lengths to ignore Hidan. He sat himself down on the living room sofa and began typing away on his calculator while filling in numbers on various statements. Preparations for the upcoming tour were just about done, and he was eager to get on with it. Soon, he found himself sailing away in the bliss of figures and profits.

Hidan blasted Kid Rock through his overpriced speakers and began setting up his sterile needle for shooting up the heroin. He tied a tourniquet around his arm with his free hand and his teeth. Using a simple metal spoon and a lighter, he cooked the white powder into a bubbling liquid. It was clear in the vial as he pressed the needle into a vein under the skin of his arm. The drug went in, and Hidan leaned back in his seat with an expression of blank bliss.

The dreamlike state that settled in was cozy and comfortable. All worries and stressors faded away into nothingness. Hidan felt as if he were high up in the air, soaring through the clouds as a warm, tropical breeze caressed his face like a gentle lover. He was wrapped up in a warm blanket with no pain, no worries, and no inhibitions. Nothing but pleasure and euphoria.

Hidan knew the dangers, knew the risks, but he just didn't care. He was immortal. Nothing could touch him.

暁 _**Rock Star Rising **_暁

Sakura was home in her apartment with a sappy romance novel when she got the call on her cell phone. She glanced at her phone and saw Kakuzu's name. He was one of the only contacts she had that didn't have a picture paired with it. She bookmarked her page, set the book aside, and answered the phone with a cheery, "Hello?"

"_Haruno, this is Kakuzu. There is a taxi outside your apartment building. Get in it_."

"Huh?" Sakura got up off the couch and peered out the window. Sure enough, the busy city street below held a yellow taxi cab parked on the side with the engine still running.

"_There's no time_," said Kakuzu. "_Hurry_."

The line went dead.

Thoroughly disturbed by the nature of the call, Sakura didn't have time to think. She ran for her black Akatsuki trench coat and sprinted downstairs as fast as she could. When she emerged outside, she all but dove into the backseat of the taxi cab.

The drive was a tan-skinned foreigner whose origins she couldn't begin to place. She hadn't even buckled her seatbelt when he sped off the curb and down the road. Sakura hastily buckled the belt with an outraged cry.

"Hey! What's the rush?"

"I—I donno," he said through a heavy accent. "I donno, I take you. I donno."

Every time he turned, Sakura found herself pressed into the door beside her or the empty space on her other side because of the car's breakneck speed. When it finally jerked to a stop, Sakura peered outside and saw that she was in front of a grungy-looking apartment complex.

"Where am I?"

"I donno," the driver repeated. "Number 312! I donno. Already paid! You go!"

Realizing that her efforts were in vain, Sakura thanked him and stepped out of the taxi. She ran to the door and looked at the keypad. Without a key, she would have to be buzzed in. Sakura typed 312 on the pad and hit enter. There wasn't a single word from Kakuzu for confirmation; she simply heard the door click as it unlocked. She opened it and ran up to the third floor, skipping two to three steps in giant leaps up the stairs.

The door was open, and Kakuzu was standing in the doorway looking at his watch. "It's already been seven and a half minutes," he said. "Hurry."

He beckoned for her to quickly follow him, so Sakura sprinted into the room in time to see Hidan twitching on the floor. His silvery hair was splayed out behind him in an uncharacteristic mess, and he was making choking sounds while he clawed at his throat. His legs twitched every so often, and his eyes were wide but unseeing.

"Holy _shit_," Sakura said, her face set in disbelief. She stumbled over to Hidan's body and immediately felt for a pulse. "What happened?" she demanded. She felt a pulse, but it was irregular and weak.

"Heroin overdose."

Sakura nearly fell over. "_WHAT?_ We have to get him to a hospital!"

Kakuzu shook his head severely. "Can't."

"_Why_?"

"Are you going to waste time asking pointless questions, or are you going to fix him?"

Right. There was no time for that now. Sakura shifted into medic mode and said, "I need a first aid kid at the very least. Does he have any emergency medical supplies for situations like this?"

Kakuzu left the room without answering her.

Sakura spoke out loud to calm her erratic nerves. "Shallow, difficult breathing. Weak pulse. Disorientation." She grabbed her cell phone and turned the flash light app on. Without warning, she held Hidan's eyelids on his right eye open and shined the light. "Extremely small pupils." She turned the light to peer into his mouth. "Tongue discoloration. Dry mouth."

Hidan suddenly began convulsing on the floor in front of her. A mixture of foam and saliva dripped down the side of his face from the corner of his mouth.

Sakura's eyes widened in frenzied horror. "_Shit_," she swore loudly. She struggled to hold Hidan down so he wouldn't hurt himself as she yelled for his roommate. "He's _dying_, Kakuzu!"

Kakuzu returned with a steel-colored briefcase. He sat down on Hidan's other side and helped Sakura hold the drummer down during his seizure. As quickly as it had come on, it passed, and Hidan suddenly stopped moving completely. Sakura felt for a pulse, and her panic escalated when she found none. He wasn't breathing.

Kakuzu flipped the clasps on the side and opened the lid. Sakura peered inside, and to her immense relief, she saw a large adrenaline shot.

"Do you need to stab that in his heart?"

"No," Sakura said as she prepared the shot. "Fatty tissue. Thigh or ass." She couldn't form complete senses in her current state.

Without so much as a by your leave, Kakuzu reached his tan hand over Hidan's side and turned his body ever so slightly to expose his backside to Sakura. It was a rare moment in which Sakura was grateful Hidan never wore shirts, because she had less clothing to work around.

Sakura gripped the top of his leather pants and pulled down to have access to a good half of Hidan's backside. In a rush, she jabbed the needle into his flesh and released the adrenaline shot.

It happened very quickly.

One second, Hidan was on the floor, unmoving. The next, he leapt up into the air and ran around the apartment with an adrenaline shot sticking out of his ass. Had the situation been any different, Sakura would have laughed herself to death, but at the moment, she was so relieved to see him alive that she couldn't manage more than a muted expression of shock.

Hidan pulled the needle from his rear end with a loud, "_Ow_!" Without further ado, he slumped into the sofa, his breathing heavy with exhaustion. "What the fuck just happened?"

His magenta-colored eyes looked down where Sakura and Kakuzu were sitting on the floor. It was a once in a lifetime occurrence of both of them staring at him like gaping fish with mirrored looks of disbelief on their very mismatched faces.

Sakura decided to ignore Hidan in favor of turning her stare toward Kakuzu. "So… _why_ couldn't you take him to the hospital again?"

"Financial scandal," Kakuzu said. His green eyes bore into hers as if daring her to challenge his authority. "It would create a crisis if the press were to discover the idiot overdosed on heroin."

Sakura's jaw dropped. "And you called me _why_?"

"You're in med school."

"He could have _died_, Kakuzu! He _did_ die for a few seconds! Just because I'm in med school doesn't mean I know anything about drug overdoses! What if he'd gone into a coma? What if—" she broke off, realizing that Kakuzu wasn't reacting to her words or angered tone at all. Sakura stared at him for a while and then Hidan and then back at Kakuzu, completely flabbergasted. "I don't even… I'm going home… to have a heart attack… and then stay in bed for the rest of the day…"

"Band practice tomorrow," Kakuzu said.

Sakura glared at him. "Okay, first of all, _stop measuring people's lives with money_!"

Hidan made the mistake of laughing, and Sakura whirled around to send her glare to him.

"And _you_!" Hidan shrank back a little while Sakura raged. "_DRUGS ARE BAD. THIS IS WHY YOU DON'T DO THEM._"

She let out one final slur of vulgarity at both of them before Sakura kicked the apartment door and left Hidan and Kakuzu staring at her like scolded schoolboys.

* * *

**XIV: "Simple Man" Shinedown**

* * *

The weeks went by in the blink of an eye. Sakura kept up with her classes at University of Konoha online as best she could, and when she wasn't studying and turning in assignments on her fancy new laptop (a thank you present from both Hidan and Kakuzu), she was practicing with the band.

Their tour had kicked off its first show in Ame, Pein and Konan's hometown. Despite being a smaller city than Konoha or one of the other big ones, the venue still completely sold out. Sakura felt _alive_ on stage with Akatsuki, and when they weren't partying at each stop, they were hanging out doing whatever they wanted on the tour bus, from practicing music to just hanging out and shooting the shit. They got up to all kinds of fun activities that they could only get away with because they were a famous rock band, from throwing ice cubes at girls in bikinis to hiding each other's clothes in a random part of the tour bus.

At one point, Deidara stole one of Sakura's bras and tied it to the antenna of the tour bus. It lasted the entire drive from Ame to Iwa before she finally saw it. Of course, after the massive punch she'd delivered to his jaw, Deidara never touched Sakura's undergarments again.

"Deidara, you bastard!" she'd screamed at the time—in front of a crowd of fans, of course. "If you touch one of my bras _one more time_, I swear to Hidan's god that I will SMITE YOU."

"You better listen to that shit," Hidan warned, completely serious. "Pinky don't fuck around."

When they weren't driving between cities, they stayed at hotels. It was during these times that Kakuzu and Sasori usually stopped by, as they rarely if ever stayed on the tour bus with the band. Both of them were older than most of the other members and liked their peace and quiet. This gave Sakura plenty of time to spend with Sasori during their hotel room time and left them both craving more whenever Sakura would disappear back into the tour bus.

Occasionally she would get calls from friends and family back home asking how she was and getting general updates on her life since becoming, well, a rock star. The idea was still so unreal to Sakura, even after a handful of shows on their tour.

The most notable of those calls had actually been from her mother. "_…just can't believe you would pack up and leave everything behind to join a _rock band_. It's a _disgrace_, Sakura. I expected better from you_…"

Sakura was only half listening. She was writing a report on electrocardiography that was due the next day in her online medical class. "Mom, this is really important to me," she said. "The way I feel when I sing or play music… I've forgotten how _right_ it feels. It opens up a whole new world to me and brings _color_ in to this black and white universe we live in."

"_What the hell does that even mean, Sakura? Are you on drugs? If I hear you've been smoking marijuana_—"

"NO, mom, I'm not high," Sakura said, quickly shutting that down.

Her fellow band members were all sitting at the table in the tour bus playing cards. Itachi had a perfect poker face, but Hidan, Deidara, and Pein were all snickering at Sakura's expense. Her mother's voice was so loud on Sakura's shitty phone that they could hear everything she was saying.

"You don't understand; music is… it's special," Sakura tried. "It's a harmonic connection between all human beings."

"_Then why can't you harmonize or connect with more normal people? I'm not saying rock and roll is _evil_, I'm just saying that if you must pursue music, there are better ways to do it! Why did it have to be rock and roll?_"

"Because that's what rock 'n' roll is all about!" Sakura raged. "It's about showing the world who you are and saying _fuck you_ if they don't understand or like you! In this world we live in now… nothing is sacred anymore. People walk all over each other, all over hopes and dreams like they're nothing. Rock 'n' roll is one of the few things we still _have_, and you can't take something like that away."

Under normal circumstances, Sakura supposed she would be flattered by the muted looks of shock her bandmates were giving her. But at the moment, her mother was yelling at her for using '_the F-word_', so she just couldn't process it.

Then, when Pein, Itachi, Deidara, and Hidan all began clapping slowly in approval at Sakura's impromptu speech, she regained that confidence and firm belief in herself and what she was doing.

"Sorry, mom," she said. "I'm busy now. I'll talk to you later, okay? I love you."

"_Sakura—_"

"All right," said Sakura, smiling at last. "Let's play some Poker."

暁 _**Rock Star Rising **_暁

It was time for one of those epic nights of music and partying. Tonight, the band had a gig in Suna, a huge city in the middle of the desert. Sakura had been there plenty of times because it was close enough to Konoha, and she liked it well enough.

The show was yet another rousing success. Sakura was yet again astounded by the sheer level of talent and ability her fellow bandmates possessed. Hidan used drum lines that blew the other bands away. Itachi and Deidara were probably the best guitarists she'd ever heard. And Pein's voice was _phenomenal_. He even performed a solo song with an acoustic guitar as the concert's encore.

It was called _Simple Man_, and while it had originally been written by Lynyrd Skynyrd, Akatsuki had their own version of the song that was heavier and huskier. Sakura felt the piece had more soul. She knew that Konan was watching on the television from home with a smile on her face.

After the partying, alcohol, and sex had worn off, Sakura and Sasori laid together in their hotel room in a tangled mess of white sheets and naked limbs. Moonlight slipped into the room through the open curtains alongside a gentle breeze that made them sway softly. The sounds of the endless party were still going on, and not for the first time, Sakura was glad to be away from it.

The rock star lifestyle was fun in certain moments, but sometimes, it really wore on her.

"Will you leave when the tour is complete?" Sasori asked her.

They were both lying on their sides facing each other. Sasori's arm was bent at the elbow to prop up his head while Sakura's rested between her pillow and her head to elevate her face slightly.

"I don't know," Sakura replied honestly. "I might have to. This life is pretty crazy. And it's getting really hard to keep up with my med school classes. Konan will have had her baby by then, so maybe she can come back to Akatsuki."

Sasori watched her for a moment with a slight frown tugging at his features. "You don't need a medical degree, Sakura," he said. "You'll make plenty of money as a member of Akatsuki."

"It's not about the money," she told him. "It's been my dream to be a doctor for as long as I can remember. I want to help people."

"That's very altruistic." His tone implied that he didn't mean it as a compliment.

Sakura sighed. She wasn't getting anywhere with that route, but perhaps she could make Sasori understand that she was as passionate about healing as he was about art. Still, she didn't really know much about Sasori's days as an artist. Perhaps now was a good time to ask. They'd been 'almost' together for months—even though Sasori stubbornly refused to give their 'relationship' a label.

"Hey… can I see some of your artwork sometime?"

The look in his eyes went from relaxed to guarded in less than a second. Sakura almost regretted asking. Almost.

"Why?" he asked.

"When you talk about art," Sakura began, "you get this light in your eyes. You speak so passionately, like someone who truly loves art more than anything else in the world. Watching and hearing you talk about art… it's _beautiful_. I can only imagine anything you'd create would be just as wonderful."

Sasori was stunned. When she was looking at him like that, her eyes so bright and earnest while she talked about his art, he just couldn't handle it. He averted his gaze.

Sakura really wasn't suited for this lifestyle. She was a rare, untamable creature whose purity could not be sullied by their music and their parties. Despite him constantly telling her that they weren't together, they weren't a couple or whatever other ridiculous label she came up with, she remained loyal to him, always smiling and supportive. And Sasori, naturally, kept going back to her because he simply _couldn't fucking stay away_.

These unnecessary, conflicting emotions were precisely the reason he didn't get involved with women for longer than a night.

"It's all gone," he said, his voice surprisingly soft.

Sakura had begun to lose hope that he would even answer her, so his sudden response caught her by surprise. She opened her mouth to speak, but he still wasn't even looking at her. He looked so _solemn_ that it _hurt_ her.

"My…," his voice trailed off, as if he were trying to find the words to say. "…Parents. They died, and I…" Sasori let out an aggravated sigh and turned his head so his palm rested over his forehead. He closed his eyes and said, "I couldn't do it anymore. I destroyed everything and told the maid to burn it all."

Sakura took a quick breath in shock. "All of it?"

"It's all gone," he repeated. "Every last piece." Sasori raised his head again, and he turned his face toward Sakura. The coldness was back in his eyes, that frozen exterior that she had tried so hard to pierce with care and compassion. "It doesn't matter anymore. Art is dead. You just have to get with the program like the rest of us."

"Sasori," she said, her voice slightly chiding. "Why do you need any of this?" She gestured around them, as if her arm could encompass their world right now, from the rock 'n' roll to the partying lifestyle. "Why can't you be that artist with your dreams?"

"Because dreams are _foolish_," Sasori said, his voice low with warning that she was pushing him too far. "You should abandon your dream. That's all reality is, Sakura—it's the place dreams go to die."

His words felt like icy cold water—a thousand knives hitting her in the face in tiny pinpricks. Her eyes burned. She squeezed the fabric of the sheets between her fingers. "You don't mean that," she said. She knew she had to be patient with Sasori. He was damaged—but damages could be repaired. "You're just… you're still hurting from what happened to you—"

"_No, I'm not_," he snapped.

They both rose up to seated positions in the bed. Sakura clutched the white sheet to her body.

"I don't feel _anything_, Sakura," he told her, his words lost in a rage mirrored in the depths of his eyes. "And you shouldn't either. This world is run on money and power. There's no room for things like dreams."

Sakura scowled. She knew part of his sour response was his foul mood, but most of it was that Sasori actually _believed_ that. "I refuse to accept that," she said. "My dream is to be a doctor. To make a difference—to _save_ people. And I will _never_ give up on that dream."

"What could you hope to accomplish as a doctor anyway? You think you can save lives? All the doctors in the world couldn't put my parents back together again, and you wouldn't be any different. This world is _vile_, and the only thing you're doing by clinging to that dream of yours is wasting your time and Akatsuki's."

Sakura stood up, her fingers clenched into fists. There were limits to even her patience, and Sasori had pushed them to the point and beyond. She slipped on her clothes in silence. Neither of them spoke, because they were both fuming and had nothing more to say.

Once Sakura was dressed, she marched to the door and opened it. Before walking through the open doorway, she hesitated and looked back. "Reality doesn't kill dreams, Sasori," she said. "People just give up on them."

* * *

**XV: "Sorry" Buckcherry**

* * *

The lights from the cameras were like blinding strobes flashing in Sakura's face and making her see stars behind her eyelids. It hurt, but as the months went by, she got more and more used to it. This was her sad excuse for a life now—being the subject of photographers and journalists who couldn't get enough of her, and civilians who bought and read the magazines that fueled them.

"Miss Haruno! Miss Haruno!"

"Is it true you dated Sasuke Uchiha?"

"How are your studies faring in regards to your new rock star lifestyle? Have you considered dropping out of university?"

"Can you confirm that you left him to join his brother's band because of your illicit affair with Itachi Uchiha?"

"Miss Haruno, how does your family feel about your involvement with Akatsuki?"

"Is there any truth to the rumor that the Uchiha family wouldn't let you marry Sasuke Uchiha?"

"Miss Haruno!"

Interviews, concerts, parties, road trips between cities—it all passed Sakura by in a blur, and with each day, her dream of being a doctor slipped further and further away.

She had hardly seen Sasori at all since their fight, and when she did see him, he made it very clear that they were back to being mere acquaintances. He rarely acknowledged her, and when he did, he was the picture of professionalism.

Maybe it was for the best.

And then, before she knew it, their first tour was completed. The band was back in Konoha and writing songs for their next album. Almost a full year had gone by since Sakura joined.

"It's been about ten months, yeah," Sakura said. She was sitting down in a café with Ino for the first time since she'd left to go on tour with Akatsuki. It was some extravagant place at the top of a tower where other celebrities occasionally went. It was one of the few places Sakura could go where she wouldn't be bothered by the press.

Ino was seated across from her. Her blonde hair was pulled back in a ponytail, and she was wearing a purple summer dress that looked cute on her. She sipped her strawberry milkshake and listened to Sakura curiously.

"Looking back on it all," Sakura began, "it feels like an out of body experience. Like all those things happened to someone else, and I just watched. It's unreal."

"I bet. How's your classes coming? You still taking them all online?"

"I've put a lot of them off, but my grades are still really good. Not like it matters."

Ino snorted. "You know you're a geek when procrastination doesn't affect your grades." She stirred her milkshake with the bright red straw sticking out of her glass. "You still thinking of quitting?"

Sakura sighed and looked out the window. It gave a nice view of the various skyscrapers of Konoha, but the clouds were gray with incoming rain. "Yeah."

"Well, you shouldn't," said Ino. "I never thought I'd have to tell _you_ of all people not to give up on your dreams, but this is just ridiculous." She set down her milkshake and gave Sakura a levelled look. "Listen… whatever you two argued about, ignore it. This world was _built_ on dreams. You think the human race would have gotten anywhere if everybody just _gave up_ the moment their dreams became inconvenient? Or too difficult?"

"Ino…"

"Don't you '_Ino'_ me, I'm serious," said the blonde. "You think women would have got equal rights if we didn't kick a few dicks back then? You think half these awesome inventions like hair dryers and waterproof eyeliner would have been invented if someone didn't have a dream to make beauty easier? Just because things look shitty now doesn't mean you can't ever achieve your dream."

"I have a good thing going for me in this band," Sakura said. "If I quit and go back to school, I'll lose all of that."

"So what?" Ino challenged. "You've got enough money now to pay for the rest of your tuition. All you have to do to become a doctor is get the grades. I've known you my whole life—you _always_ get the grades."

"What's the point?" Sakura asked. "Even if I become a doctor, what good will that do me?"

"You'll be able to _help_ people, Forehead. Isn't that the point of practicing medicine? To heal wounds and cure sickness? You being a doctor will make the difference for every patient you see. Sure, you can't save everyone, but nobody can. Just do your part, and you'll fulfill your dream."

Sakura stared at Ino in shock. Everything she said throughout that entire conversation had been true, and it had al struck Sakura to her very core.

"You're right," she said. It all made sense. Of course she was right. Somehow, along the way, Sakura had forgotten that. "I can't believe I almost gave it up. Thank you, Ino. I don't know what I'd do without you. Everything you said—it just makes so much sense."

"Well, I should hope so," Ino replied with a satisfied smirk. "I pretty much copied my argument from textbook."

Sakura smacked her palm to her forehead. "Jeez. Only _you _would take psychology classes for the sole purpose of manipulating people in arguments."

"Please, I am so freaking brilliant, I just wish I could turn it on and off on cue."

"Hey, can you do me a favor?" Sakura suddenly asked.

Ino looked at her curiously. "A favor, huh? What is it?"

"Your dad's a private investigator," Sakura started. "Do you think you can find where someone lives?"

"Uh. _Maybe_." Ino was a little weirded out by the request, but she decided to roll with it. "Who are they, and why can't you just ask them yourself?"

"Because we're not talking right now. And it's not his house I'm looking for. It's his grandmother's."

"Huh?"

Sakura tried to keep her embarrassment down. "I need you to find out where the Akasuna family house is. You know how Sasuke has that Uchiha Estate where most of them live? Sasori is from one of those old families, too. I think his grandmother lives there. I really need to talk to her."

Ino suddenly looked very suspicious. "You're not gonna like, bring her a goat and three bags of rice and ask to marry Sasori, are you?"

"_Of course not_!"

"Okay, okay, yeesh. Just making sure." Ino brought her hand to her chin and looked toward the ceiling in a thoughtful pose. "I don't know, Sakura. That's kind of a weird request. I don't know if I can get my dad to go along with it."

"_Please_!" Sakura begged. "I will _totally_ make it up to you. I'll—I'll buy you the new edition of the Akatsexy Calendar!"

Ino grinned at her. "I heard Sasori was November."

"Yeah, and I'm March," Sakura said with obvious distaste. "C'mon, Ino, what do you say?"

"Hmm… throw in Hidan's phone number, and we have ourselves a deal."

暁 _**Rock Star Rising **_暁

"You're being especially broody lately."

Sasori was sitting at the bar staring at his unfinished bourbon. He looked at the person next to him from the corner of his eyes and saw Konan smiling at him. He closed his eyes with a sigh and brought his glass to his lips for a drink. When he lowered it, he asked, "Am I bothering you?"

Konan had four different drinks in front of her, all of which were fruity alcoholic concoctions. Now that she'd finally had her baby, she could drink again, and since it was Pein's turn to take care of the little tyke (an adorable baby boy they'd named Yahiko after their old friend from childhood who died), Konan was hanging out with the band for old time's sake.

A song was playing in the radio of the shitty bar. It was Buckcherry's "Sorry", and it was doing nothing for Sasori's mood.

"Oh no, not at all," she said. "You could mix it up a bit, though. Maybe smolder a bit. Give me the cold shoulder."

She was comparing him to a male protagonist in some asinine romance novel, and Sasori didn't like it. He downed his drink and set the glass on the bar. "You're ridiculous."

"Maybe," Konan said. "But at least I know when I have a good thing going for me."

"What are you trying to say?"

She gave a half-hearted shrug and sipped her strawberry daiquiri from a pink silly straw. "I just find it a shame you broke up with Sakura, that's all."

"We were never dating," Sasori said.

Konan rolled her eyes. "Right, because sleeping with someone for months _completely monogamously_ isn't a 'relationship'. My bad."

"Konan," he warned.

She held up a hand in a placating gesture. "Look, I'm not trying to push your buttons. I'm just saying, I haven't seen you this miserable since—" she quickly broke off and looked away. Sasori's eyes narrowed. Konan quickly amended, "—in a long time. And maybe I'm being ridiculous, but I think Sakura made you happy. You certainly made _her _happy. Just something to think about."

Without another word, she spun around in her chair and stood up to leave. After a quick, second thought, Konan turned around and snatched up her remaining three drinks before trotting off to join Itachi and Hidan at the pool table. It wasn't a fancy night club like _Elixur_, but at least no one bothered them in a place this dingy. It suited the band's occasional grunge taste.

Sasori almost thought he was home free until Deidara of all people sat in the seat Konan had just left. He pushed aside her empty daiquiri glass and looked at Sasori with concern etched on his face.

"Hey man, you okay… yeah?"

Sasori scowled. He _was not_ moping—why did everyone in Akatsuki react to him as if he was? "I'm _wonderful_."

"You're being sarcastic, aren't you?" Deidara asked.

"_No_. Me? _Never_."

Deidara leaned in and peered closely to Sasori with a scrutinizing gaze that made Sasori lean back. "Pretty sure that's your sarcasm face… yeah."

Sasori put his hand flat on Deidara's face and pushed him backward out of Sasori's personal space. "I _don't_ have a sarcasm face, you pig-headed ignoramus."

"Aw, come on, Danna," Deidara whined as he wrenched Sasori's hand off his face. "Why don't you call Sakura? I'm sure she'd forgive you if you apolo—"

Sasori snatched a napkin off the bar table and shoved it into Deidara's mouth to gag him.

"Shut up, Deidara."

* * *

**XVI: "Anywhere" Evanescence**

* * *

Ino had gotten back to Sakura a lot faster than she thought she would. Of course, Sakura had wrongly assumed Ino was joking about Hidan's phone number, but as soon as Ino started retracting the slip of paper with the Akasuna Manor address, Sakura quickly went through her phone and provided the number to her. They went their separate ways, and Sakura hailed a taxi to the estate.

So there she was, meeting Sasori's grandmother when she hadn't actually said more than two words to Sasori since they fought two months ago. Chiyo was a short old woman with neck-length gray hair and many, many wrinkles to show for her age.

"You're… here for Sasori, you say?" she asked. Her face showed her surprise at having such a random guest. "I'm sorry—he doesn't live here anymore. He hasn't for many years."

"That's not it," Sakura said, trying to be as polite as she could in the given circumstances. "I just… Sasori is very important to me. I was…"

A wide grin spread over Chiyo's face, and she cackled happily. "Oh, of course! You must be my darling grandson's _girlfriend_! I'm so happy he's finally settling down. Please, please, come in!"

"Ah!" Sakura exclaimed as Chiyo pulled her into the foyer. "It's not like that, I—"

"Would you like some tea? Oh, I'm so happy!"

Sakura grimaced. "Maybe I should start from the beginning…"

暁 _**Rock Star Rising **_暁

"I never want to see that look on his face again," said Sakura. "The way he looked when he dismissed his dream of being an artist—and mine of being a doctor. He was this cold, broken shell—nothing like how he was when he talked to me about art. When he spoke of art, he…" she trailed off, her eyes lighting up at the memory, "he spoke so passionately. So full of longing. It was beautiful. I want to bring that light back into his life."

Chiyo stared at Sakura for a long time. It seemed like ages passed within those short minutes. They were sitting on a long sofa with a low coffee table in front of them. Two steaming cups of tea rested on saucers, mostly untouched.

Finally, Chiyo opened her mouth and said, "Sasori… he has always been alone. He was close to his parents, once. But my son and his wife were frequently busy with their trips to other nations. They rarely had time for him. Sasori was always a strong boy. He simply… adapted. He got used to his solitude and grew cold.

"I told his father what he was doing to his son," Chiyo continued. "Everything Sasori's parents did, they did for the well-being of our family. They never meant to isolate their only child. And so, as a family, we got together and had a nice, long, heart-to-heart talk. His parents promised that when they returned from their current business trip, they would stay home and not go on another. They promised we would be together like a proper family."

Sakura brought her hands up to her mouth. She knew what was coming. "They never… they never made it home, did they?"

Chiyo let out a slow, unsteady sigh as if the subject still caused great pain for her. "Sasori believed his parents, and for the first time, I saw him smiling again. He starting working on his art, eager to show them when they returned. But… there was an accident. While they were in Konoha, their car collided with another and veered off the road. Sasori's parents were killed. In the other car, it was just another boy and his father, and his father died in the crash as well. That boy, Kakashi Hatake, I think, was the only survivor."

Sakura lowered her hands to her lap, her gaze falling to the floor. Of course Sasori abandoned his art. It was the one thing he loved as much as he loved his parents, and all he wanted was to show them and make them proud of him. And he never got the chance.

"_Burn it all."_

"I want to show you something, Sakura," Chiyo told her. The old woman stood up from the sofa and walked toward a glass hutch in the corner of the room. Many small figurines were displayed that looked like hand-carved wooden people and creatures. Chiyo opened the glass door and withdrew a small brass key.

"Come with me."

暁 _**Rock Star Rising **_暁

She knew he'd be home. There was no band practice today, and Sasori only rarely went to those anyway. Sakura rode the elevator all the way up to Sasori's skyline penthouse. She stopped outside his door and tried to gather her courage. Would he give her the time of day? Would he tell her to stop being a stupid little girl and go away? She had no way of knowing for sure how Sasori would react, but she had to try.

She raised her hand and knocked.

And then, as if it could ever be so simple, the door opened, and there he was. Sasori leaned against the door frame and looked down at her. His red hair was a disheveled mess, and his brown eyes surprisingly soft, though tired. He looked paler than usual, as if he hadn't been outside in quite some time.

"Sakura."

"Hey," she said. She took in his clothes with a raised eyebrow. Sasori was wearing an unbuttoned white shirt and a pair of black jeans with tears in the knee and thigh of all things. It was not a classy, Sasori look _at all_. "You look—err—" she broke off, trying to think of something polite.

Sasori raised an eyebrow.

Sakura switched her gaze to his face and smiled. "Are you doing anything today?"

"Why?"

"_Well_… I have something I'd like to show you. And it's rather important."

Sasori's expression was guarded, though still curious. "What is it?"

Sakura took a slow breath. "Well, if I told you, it wouldn't be a surprise."

He frowned. "Sakura—"

"Just—" she cut him off, raising her hand for silence, "come with me, okay? After I show you, you can retreat again to your man-cave or whatever it is you've been doing since the tour ended."

Sasori studied her for a moment. He had a feeling this was Sakura's last ditch attempt to be with him. He was curious to see what it was she wanted to show him, but being alone with her reminded him of how dangerously close he'd gotten to losing himself to her touch. _To her love._

Still… he had to admit that it was good to see her again.

"I'll get a coat."

Sakura beamed at him and happily waited in the doorway while Sasori buttoned his shirt. He grabbed his black Akatsuki trench coat and followed Sakura out of his home. To his surprise, Sakura had a taxi outside waiting for them. They took their seats, and the car drove off.

"Where are we going?" Sasori asked her.

She looked to the ceiling of the car and said, "You'll see."

To Sasori's immediate distaste, the taxi dropped them off in front of his family's estate. "Sakura—"

"Hush," she said. "It's just the two of us. I just want to show you something."

They walked up to the front door, and Sakura gestured to the lock expectantly. Sasori stared at her, making it perfectly clear he had no intention of unlocking the door. Sakura put her hands on her hips and raised her eyebrows, daring him to defy her. Sasori narrowed his eyes, and the two of them remained in a stalemate for quite some time before Sasori's curiosity won out.

He heaved a sigh that could have levelled buildings and pulled out his keys. When he found the one for the manor, he unlocked the door and pushed it open so Sakura could walk in first. She grinned at him in appreciation and headed inside. With obvious reluctance, he followed her.

After they slipped off their shoes, Sakura took Sasori's hand and quite literally _pulled_ him down the hall and toward a closed door. They stood outside it for some time before Sasori finally asked, "What are we doing here?"

She ignored the question, smiling at him in that mysterious fashion, and gently pushed the door open. Sakura stepped back so that Sasori could proceed into the room first. As the door opened, he saw what was inside. There was a quick intake of breath, and his lips parted in shock.

Sasori stepped into the room and looked all around at his various artworks. It was a complete collection, meticulously repaired piece by piece after he'd destroyed everything. Masterfully crafted puppets lined the walls, sculptures ever so carefully fused back together, canvases painstakingly stitched where they had been cut apart, and it was all his.

His life's work.

He could hardly find his voice. "Did you… do this?"

"Your grandmother helped with most of it. It took us a while to put it all back together."

He felt two gentle hands on his shoulders. They lightly slid down his arms in a soft caress. Sasori slowly turned around, and Sakura slid her fingers over his chest. She was still smiling, watching her fingers draw idle patterns over the fabric of his shirt.

Her voice was melodious, and she swayed gently, slowly, the music in her head. "Dear my love, haven't you wanted to be with me, and dear my love, haven't you longed to be free…"

Sasori brought one of his hands to Sakura's waist and the other picked up Sakura's left hand. He locked their fingers together and allowed Sakura to pull him into their slow, swaying dance.

"I can't keep pretending that I don't even know you, and," she sang, half murmuring, "at sweet night, you are my own…"

Sasori moved closer and tilted his neck at an angle to rest his head against the top of Sakura's. She brought her free hand up to hold the side of his neck. His eyes slid closed as inexplicable bliss enveloped him in a warm embrace.

"Take my hand, we're leaving here tonight… there's no need to tell anyone. They'd only hold us down, so by the morning light…" she pulled back to look him in the eyes as she smiled at him. "We'll be halfway to anywhere, where love is more than just your name."

* * *

**XVII: "Here's To Us" Halestorm**

* * *

"And so," concluded Tsunade, her voice echoing through the grand chamber to the entire audience, "it is my great honor to present this final degree to Miss Sakura Haruno, along with my most sincere congratulations on her new position at Konoha United Hospital." She turned toward her favored student with a wide smile. "I look forward to working with you, Sakura."

Sakura accepted the scroll, beaming happily at her teacher. "Thank you, Doctor." She turned toward the cheering crowd and placed both of her hands on the side of the podium. "For as long as I can remember, it's been my dream to be a doctor just like the amazing Tsunade Senju. And so, standing here today and receiving my degree from her is more than a dream come true. I can't begin to say what an honor it has been learning under her and all the other amazing professors here at U of K.

"I also want to thank my friends and family for their support. These last couple years have been quite an adventure," she added with a laugh. There were a few amused chuckles in the audience. Everyone knew of the year she'd spent in the famous rock band, Akatsuki. Her publicity had died considerably since she gave the position back to the former member, Konan, but Sakura saw that as a good thing.

"I wouldn't have made it half this far without all of them supporting me," Sakura said. "There were a few times where I was close to losing myself, and it was thanks to them that I was able to pick up the pieces and keep pushing forward. That's the thing about dreams, you know? If they were easy, you wouldn't have to dream about them for so long before finally making them a reality. But that's just it—and I'm living proof—if you want something bad enough, and you work hard enough, _dreams come true_. Right guys?"

She winked, and the crowd, full of friends, family members, and various classmates all cheered.

When it was over, Sakura found herself dragged to Akatsuki's after party along with many of her fellow graduates and friends. The stage lit up, and the band came out with one of the hits from their newest album. The crowd went wild.

"That was quite a speech."

Sakura bit her lower lip amid a wide grin. She didn't have to turn around to know who it was. She felt Sasori wrap his arms around her from behind, and she leaned back into him. He rested his head on top of hers, his gaze straight ahead.

"I'm glad you liked it," she told him.

"That could be you up there," Sasori said.

She knew he was referring to the stage. Konan was back (Sakura was keenly aware of this, because more often than not, _she_ was the one who got stuck babysitting little Yahiko), and she was singing this song to perfection.

Sakura smiled wistfully. "Nah, Konan belongs there. It was fun, though. A life experience that I wouldn't trade for anything. I met a lot of amazing people, too. You and the others—you're all _wonderful_."

"And now you've made your dream a reality." Sasori put his hand to Sakura's shoulder and turned her around so the two were facing each other. They stood close together, their bodies touching as their fingers locked together.

"So is yours," she replied with a coy smile. "Left Red Cloud Recordings to open Akatsuki Studios. It's perfect. I'm sure your fans around the world are glad to see you creating art once more."

The corner of his lips twitched upward. Sasori lowered his forehead to touch Sakura's. "I just don't get it," he said. "How is it a little girl like you can be nothing short of extraordinary?"

"We really need to work on your complimenting skill."

Sasori rolled his eyes. "Well, then," he said. "What do you do when you complete your dream?"

Sakura grinned at him. "Don't be silly. You find a new dream, of course."

"And that is?"

She kissed him.

_**The End**_

_**TK Grimm**_


End file.
